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South Africa Today 



— BY — 

JENNIE R. WHITE, A. B., 



— AND — 



ADELAIDE SMITH, S. B. 



Huguenot College, Wellington, Cape Colony 




CHICAGO 
A. FLANAGAN COMPANY 



23T T 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two CoDies Receivecf 

MAH 111907 

S Copyright Entry 
CLASS f\ XXfc., No. 

/70 S/s-- 

COPY B. 

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COPYRIGHT, 1907 BY 
A. FLANAGAN COMPANY 



OUTWARD BOUND 

About the time that Rip Van Winkle began his 
long nap in Sleepy Hollow, one of his countrymen 
was busy making a legend for South Africa. It was 
then the Flying Dutchman started out on the longest 
voyage in history. This was the period of Dutch en- 
terprise and venture. The sea was dotted with the 
vessels of the merchants of Amsterdam. Not only 
were they building a city at the mouth of the Hud- 
son, but they were the most prosperous colonists of 
India and its islands. At the Cape of Good Hope the 
Dutch East India Company ruled supreme. 

It took brave hearts to venture on the seas in those 
clumsy Dutch ships and the sailors told fearful stories 
of the "Cape of Storms," but Captain van der 
Decken laughed at their fears, and. vowed he would 
double the Cape in spite of wave and wind. His ves- 
sel never came to port; for one whole day he tried to 
bring his ship to anchor in Table Bay, then at night- 
fall he swore in his wrath that he would have his will 
if it took him until the day of judgment. The sea 
he defied is mocking him still, and if you have the 
right kind of eyes you may see in the midst of storm 
and darkness the light of a vessel far out at sea and 
a shadowy form before the mast. There are those 
who believe that the Flying Dutchman has been for- 



6 SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 

given and has found his rest, but many of the old 
Africanders have seen this phantom ship and are will- 
ing to point it out to you. When a country is ac new 
as South Africa and has not many legends it must 
keep alive the few it has. 

South Africa belongs to the most modern period of 
modern history, just as North Africa belongs to the 
most ancient period of ancient history. Historically 
the Cape is as old as America, but economically it is 
the youngest of countries. 

Before Columbus sailed west to find the East, Por- 
tuguese ships were creeping along the coast of Afri- 
ca to find the Indies by a southern route. Under the 
influence of Prince Henry, the Navigator, the court 
of Portugal had become the center of maritime inter- 
est and knowledge. The fleets of the Prince brought 
back tidings of new lands and lovely islands. In 
1420 Madeira was discovered and a little later the 
Canaries and the Azores. We w r ondered as our boat 
drew near Madeira if those early mariners hailed it 
with the same transport of joy as our storm tossed 
crew; it seemed a vision of eternal spring after the 
long night the Londoners call winter. 

For a voyage of fine contrasts one should leave 
England in December. The memory of foggy cities 
and the misty Thames is added to the depressing in- 
fluence of the restless Bay of Biscay. After three 
days on a rolling sea we come to harbor on the quiet- 
est of bays under the most serene of blue skies — 



OUTWARD BOUND 



there in the distance are the green hills of Madeira 
and below the red-tiled roofs of Funchal. 

As soon as our vessel is sighted the birds of prey 
begin to swoop down upon us ; first come the divers in 
their gay little boats. All the English they know or 
need is "silver;" for a small coin the brown, scantily- 
clad Portuguese boys dive straight from the edge of 
their boats and come up in a moment dripping and tri- 




FUNCHAL 



umphant with the rescued money. For a shilling the 
more experienced swimmers give a fine show of their 
skill, diving under our great steamer and coming up 
on the other side. Then come the basket-makers with 
steamer chairs, tables and baskets of wicker and 
straw. The merchants follow them on board with 
Madeira embroideries and drawn thread work. 

It is hard to leave this tempting display, but the 
boatman engaged to take us ashore is clamoring for 



8 



SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 



our company. The car that climbs the scenic rail- 
way awaits us — there is a splendid view from the hill- 
top; but we are anxious to make the descent, for 
here is a real toboggan slide and an exciting ride on a 




SCENIC RAILWAY 



sled over the smooth stones brings us back into the 
valley. Then we are ready to see the shops and the 
gardens — we can not help seeing the people. Beg- 
gars swarm around us, guides offer their services, 
children besiege us with flowers. In spite of them we 
enjoy our walk through the narrow, neatly paved 
streets, the glimpses into the tenements of the happy 
poor, the view of lovely courtyards over the high 
walls that surround the gardens of the rich, and the 
bargaining in the fine fruit and flower market. 

We reward the patient charioteer who follows us 
from the street, by engaging his services. Our char- 
iot is a gorgeous barge on runners; a man pulls the 
two oxen in front, a small boy prods them from be- 



OUTWARD BOUND 



hind, and when after much urging the speed increases 
to a run we join in the owner's laugh of joy and 
pride. Horses are almost unknown on the island, 
and they would be useless on the winding, slippery 
streets. 

On one of the hillsides is the English cemetery, 
kept like a beautiful garden, and near it the Portu- 
guese burying ground with the strange little photo- 
graphs of the dead set in the stones. 

At dusk in the public gardens the band plays for 
the diversion of pale English tourists in search of 
health, and for dusky 
maidens in search of 
pleasure. A proces- 
sion of young priests 
reminds us that we 
are in a Catholic land. 
A bower of flaming 
Bouganvillea and Or- 





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RAPID TRANSIT IN MADEIRA 



ange Creeper offers a 

resting place by the 

sparkling fountain. Madeira wines and fruits are 

offered us — then the boat's whistle brings us back to 

reality, and we leave with regret "the garden spot of 

the world." 

As this is to be one of the longest ocean voyages we 
have yet taken- -sixteen days from England if we 
are on the mail steamer — we have an opportunity to 
become well acquainted with some of our fellow- 



10 



SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 



passengers who are on their way home to Africa, and 
to learn from them many interesting things of the 
people and the places we are to visit. We are particu- 
larly interested in hearing of the many different peo- 
ples we shall meet. First in interest, of course, are 




FORTE DE PICO — MADEIRA 



the natives — the negroes. There are many tribes of 
these natives, who formerly occupied the entire coun- 
try, being gradually driven further into the interior 
by the march of civilization, as our American Indians 
were driven westward and finally almost extermi- 
nated. These several tribes speak different lan- 
guages and have more or less common customs, which 
we will study later at close range. The general name 
given to the native is Kafir (meaning an infidel) , and 
in this sense w r e will use it in our book. Of the sev- 



OUTWARD BOUND 11 

eral ways of spelling the word, Kafir, Kaffir, Caffre, 
Cafir, Kaffer, Caffir, the first is that generally 
adopted. 

Among the first European settlements in South 
Africa were those of the Dutch. In the year 1835 
a large number of these Dutch colonists — called 
Boers (meaning farmers) — decided to seek a home 
farther north, where they might live undisturbed by 
outside influence. This migration is the "Trek," fa- 
mous in their history. Vanquishing the native tribes 
who disputed their progress, they settled in the Trans- 
vaal ("across the Vaal River"), and established a re- 
public, with a President elected by the people. With 
the discovery of diamonds in the seventies came an in- 
flux of other nationalities, principally the English. 
In the adapting of the laws and customs of this 
purely agrarian people to the new conditions, con- 
tinual dissensions arose, culminating finally in the 
"Three Years' War," which was ended in 1902 by the 
surrender of the Boers to the English, and the chang- 
ing of the "Orange Free State" into the "Orange 
River Colony," now governed by England in the same 
way as is Canada. 

We are also much interested in learning something 
of the life and work of Cecil Rhodes, a young Eng- 
lishman who went to Africa in 1871 to benefit his 
health, and whose influence we shall continually see 
in our travels. He was a quiet, meditative youth, but 
with a remarkable genius for organization, and it be- 



12 SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 

came the dream and object of his life to bring all the 
colonies of Africa, from the Cape north to the Zam- 
besi River, under the British flag. At about this time 
came the discovery of diamonds, and a little later that 
of gold. He grasped the opportunities which he 
saw, and having been successful in diamond mining 
in a small way, soon organized the diamond industry 
into one company, the DeBeers Consolidated. Later 
the gold mining industry was similarly consolidated. 
He lived a singularly lonely life; the enormous 
wealth which he accumulated was not used for the 
pleasures that money can buy, but for the further- 
ance of his one plan of developing and improving the 
country. One large territory which he opened up to 
civilization was named Rhodesia in his honor. When 
he died a few years ago he was mourned as the one 
man who had done the most toward opening to the 
world this wonderfully rich country. 

Sometimes the African steamers coal at an island 
of the Canary group; a day on the island of Tene- 
riffe or in the City of Los Palmas is not unlike one 
at Madeira, but the language spoken is that of Spain, 
for the Portuguese transferred this group to the 
Spanish not long after its discovery. 

The population of Funchal is about 20,000, and 
that of the whole province is seven times this num- 
ber. Los Palmas and Santa Cruz have about the 
same population as Funchal, but the Canary group 
has some 300,000 inhabitants. The industries are 



OUTWARD BOUND 



13 



similar — the production of wines and tropical fruits, 
of sugar and cochineal. 

Occasionally the steamer touches at the bare vol- 
canic islands of Ascension or St. Helena; a small 
English garrison guards Ascension's unfriendly rock, 
and St. Helena reminds us of Napoleon's last days; 




mm 



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LOS PALM AS 



it was the home of many of the Boer leaders who were 
exiled during the war. 

The sixteenth day from England, on the mail 
steamer, we sight the outlines of Table Mountain. 
Often a soft white cloud spreads over its top and 
comes creeping down the sides — this is the "Table 
Cloth," full of beauty and full of wrath— for out of 
that fleecy mist creeps the "Southeaster." This 
fierce wind makes our landing difficult and hides our 
first view of Cape Town in a whirl of dust. Usually 
Africa gives the traveler a gentle greeting of clear 






14 



SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 



skies and so we learn to forgive in time an occasional 
outbreak of the blustering "Southeaster." It is 




CAPE TOWN AND TABLE MOUNTAIN FROM TABLE BAY 



really a friend and is given the name of the "Cape 
Doctor," for it sweeps every germ of disease in its 
path into the sea. 



CAPE TOWN AND ENVIRONS 

South Africa seems stranger to the European 
than to the American traveler, for there is nothing of 
the old world atmosphere about it. Indeed, we are 
inclined to believe that during our five weeks of sail- 
ing away from New York we. have almost circumnavi- 
gated the globe, and we are now stepping ashore for 
a few sunny days in San Francisco. 




CAPE MALAYS 



As we walk toward the heart of the city there seems 
little that is strange or foreign in our surroundings. 
The same cosmopolitan company passes us by — here 



15 



16 



SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 



India supplies the element of the picturesque. We 
stop to admire a veiled woman, gay in spangles and 
shining satin. The husband in his plain fez is less in- 
teresting than a Mohammedan priest who sails by us 
in floating robe and gay turban. 

Everywhere, a part of the busy life of the streets 
and docks, are the Cape Colored — a very different 




TEA FACTORY GIRLS 



type from the Kafir and warlike Zulu whom we meet 
later. Mixture of races and contact with civilization 
have given him the appearance of his American 
brother. 



CAPE TOWN AND ENVIRONS 



17 



Now we come to the city's principal thoroughfare. 
At the foot of the street a statue of Jan van Riebeek 
keeps guard — a reminder of the long rule of the 
Dutch East In- 
dia Company. 
The need of a re- 
freshment sta- 
tion on the route 
to India prompt- 
ed them in 1652 
to send Riebeek 
and his little 
squadron to the 
Cape. By right 
of discovery the 
land belonged to 
the Portuguese. 
Bartholomew 
Diaz had first 
seen its shores in 
1486, and a little 
later Vasco de 
Gama had touch- 
ed here on his 
way to India. Af- 
ter this, Dutch and Portuguese navigators landed 
occasionally at Table Bay, but disastrous encounters 
with the natives made them wary. It was nearly 
one hundred and seventy years after the discovery 




STATUE OF VAN RIEBEEK 



18 



SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 



of the Cape of Good Hope that Riebeek began, in 
his rude fortification against lions and Bush Rangers, 
the city of Cape Town. 

Wars at home persuaded the Dutch a few years 
later to strengthen the defenses of their colonies, and 
the historic Castle was built. The courtyard is large 
enough to contain a small village, and the high walls 

and inner bar- 
racks garrison 
today part of 
the British 
army. 

In the fine 
new Post Of- 
fice w r e exam- 
ine with inter- 
est another bit 
of the early 
history of the 
Colony. It is a 
great flat 
stone that for 
years served as 
the Cape Post Office. Under this the outbound vessel 
placed its letters to be unearthed by the next ship 
returning home. 

Outside the Post Office it appears that Africa is 
giving us a floral fete of welcome. It is the wild 
flower sale. At early morn the colored women go on 




CAPE CART 



CAPE TOWN AND ENVIRONS 19 

the mountain sides or far into the kloofs, and come 
back, their baskets laden with sprays of heath, with 
great proteas and all the wonderful flowers of the 
veld. 

We are in the midst of the life and stir of a busv 
city. We wonder at its activity when we remember 
that its population is only about 100,000. 

In fact, the total number of whites in the various 
English colonies south of the Zambesi does not ex- 
ceed 1,250,000, while the colored races number over 
5,000,000, a proportion of nearly five natives to every 
white person. The white population of all South 
Africa is therefore about that of the city of Phila- 
delphia. 

The town clock strikes eleven — the time for our 
morning tea. It is a pleasant feature of colonial life 
that even the men take time for this morning rest, and 
for an afternoon cup at four. It is a relaxation from 
the day's work, and the scene in the cafes at these 
hours is a pleasant contrast to the hurry of our Amer- 
ican life. 

We pass out of the main business street into The 
Avenue — a wide shady footpath leading into the 
Gardens, the principal residence portion of the city. 
On the left of The Avenue are the government build- 
ings. The House of Parliament is in the midst of a 
well-kept garden — its white pillars stand out in fine 
relief against the splendid background of the hills. 

A session is in progress and we secure permission 



20 



SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 







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PARLIAMENT HOUSE AND TABLE MOUNTAIN, CAPE TOWN 



to enter the visitors' gallery. We are anxious to see 
the premier, Dr. Jameson. Surely the man in the 
gold lace and gray coat must be he. No, this 
man's sole duty is to carry about the gilded mace to 
indicate the stage of a discussion. Then he must be 
one of the grave men in white wigs with long black 
gowns. No, they are the advocates. The man we 
are seeking is the one who is moving about talking 
to the different members informally. Men come and 
go while the discussion is on and we begin to see 
that here there is the same freedom of life and free- 
dom of speech as in our own country. Later when 
we have an opportunity to meet the King's sister, 



CAPE TOWN AND ENVIRONS 21 

the Princess Christian, and his brother, the Duke of 
Connaught, the cordial handshake and genial greet- 
ing make us believe that the "pomp that hedges 
'round a throne" is forgotten in the Colonies, and that 
the British possessions are not far behind us in democ- 
racy. 

Cape Colony enjoys self-government — that is, she 
is ruled by officials elected by an almost universal 
suffrage. The exception is the Chief Executive — 
the Governor, who is appointed by the King of Eng- 
land. 

Leaving the House of Parliament and continu- 
ing our walk through The Avenue, we turn aside to 
spend an hour in the fine Botanical Gardens. Here 
is a varied collection of the plants of many lands — 
the huge woody tubers of the African "Elephant's 
Foot" {Testudinaria elephantipes) , with its delicate 
climbing stem. The native Stangeria, one of Afri- 
ca's few cone-bearing plants, with its single leaf 
which the gardener tells us it has had these five and 
twenty years, — maybe next century it will produce 
another one, — an interesting collection of succulent 
plants which store up food in stem, leaf or roots 
against the long droughts with which plants must strug- 
gle in this country, roses rear their heads toward the 
Euphorbias with their angular candelabrum branches, 
leafless and thorny, trees from northern climes beckon 
us to rest in their shade. At the entrance to the park 
is a statue of Sir George Grey, one of the best of 



22 



SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 



the early English governors of the Cape. Beyond 
the statue is the great library of Cape Town which 
was established by this patron of learning. At the 
other end of the park stands the fine museum and 
art gallery. 

Only an out-of-door people can really enjoy South 
Africa — for those who are up with the sun there are 

















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CACTI IN PUBLIC GARDENS 



many interesting sights. There is the early morning 
market when the great square is crowded with Boers 
and English farmers, and bargainers looking for 
fresh fruit and other country produce. If you 



CAPE TOWN AND ENVIRONS 



23 



choose to scale the "Lion's Head" or Table Moun- 
tain you will meet other mountain climbers who have 
been before you to see the sun rise over the harbor 
before their day of business begins. An out-of-door 
people take time to live. 

The fine driveway named for Queen Victoria and 
the circuit of the city made by the Camps Bay train 




SATURDAY MARKET ON THE PARADE 



line afford as magnificent a panorama as it is possible 
to find. 

Cape Town is extended by beautiful residence sub- 
urbs — Kenilworth, Rosebank, Claremont, Wynburg. 
We have time for only one, so we leave our train at 



24 



SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 



Rondebosch for a day at Groote Schuur. This 
"Great Barn" was on the old farm of Jan van Rie- 
beek, and Cecil Rhodes transformed it into his coun- 
try estate — or rather a great playground for the 
people. 




DUTCH FARMHOUSE 



A long avenue with a vista of cloud-capped moun- 
tains in the distance brings us to the house, — which 
many tourists have declared the most beautiful and 
harmonious of dwellings. It is built after the old 
Dutch style with a wide back "stoep" where every 
carved teak chair and heavy Dutch chest has its his- 
tory. There is a dignity and refinement in the in- 



CAPE TOWN AND ENVIRONS 



25 



terior furnishings that reflects the character of the 
collector. Everywhere are the gifts of royalty, from 
the fine tapestry given by Queen Victoria to the sil- 
ver elephant snuff box of the black king Lobengula. 
We walk up the terraced garden through a sea of 
blue Hydrangeas. Beyond are the animal enclos- 



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BACK STOEP — RHODES HOME 



ures. All the wild creatures of Africa have found 
a home here, — the agile spring-bok, the graceful 
eland, the queer misshapen haartebeest with its heart- 
shaped markings on cheek and shoulder. On the 
lawn the blue heron and peacock walk in dignity — 
the awkward ostrich may not come so near, for he is 



26 SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 

liable to be rude and quarrelsome. The monkeys 
chatter at us as we climb the hill to the lion's den. 
From the hilltop we see where the seas divide — on 
one side are the waters of the Atlantic, and away to 
the east stretches the Indian Ocean. 

We wait until the great lion and lioness come 
grumbling out of their caves, and then descend 
through the pasture, w T here the zebras submit to our 
caresses without taking the least interest in us. 

In the garden below we .encounter another lion, 
strangely like the frontispiece in some book at home. 
So we have found out where Rudyard Kipling 
studies how the leopard gets his spots. After this 
we shall enjoy his stories all the more, for we shall 
remember that he is as interesting as his best tale. 
He comes to his home in this corner of Groote Schuur 
for the African summer. The house is one of the 
many gifts of Cecil Rhodes. The whole estate is 
always open to the public. Another of his great 
benefactions is the Rhodes scholarships, whereby 
some boy from every state in our Union, together 
with others from all nations, may profit by an Ox- 
ford training. 

The early Dutch governors knew how to select the 
garden spots of Africa. Simon van der Stell chose 
Groote Constantia for his wine farm. His old Dutch 
house still stands in this beautiful valley and around 
it are the immense vineyards of the government wine 
farms. 



CAPE TOWN AND ENVIRONS 



27 



When we begin our northern journey from Cape 
Town we linger at the Dutch village of Stellenbosch, 
where the same old governor located his country home 
and laid out the miles of oak bordered avenues which 
stand as lasting monuments to his foresight. 

The fruit seasons hurrying along overtake each 




GROOTE CONSTANTLY 



other, and in the summer month of January the small 
colored boys at the station besiege us with strawber- 
ries, peaches and grapes. 

We leave the main line for a glimpse of the valley 
of French Hoek. Here the band of Huguenots who 
fled from France in the time of Louis XIV sought 



28 



SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 




OLD DUTCH FARMHOUSE 



freedom from the too rigorous decrees of the Dutch, 
who wished to stamp out their language. Many of 
the best families of the country boast a French line- 
age, and the hundreds of Malans and de Villiers are 
the Smiths and the Joneses of South Africa. The 
Dutch so effectually effaced the French language 
that we find traces of their history only in their names 
and in an occasional touch of vivacity among the 
phlegmatic Dutch. 

On the trains now, we hear a language altogether 
unfamiliar. If you know the language of Holland you 
may be able to understand Cape Dutch. During the 
early years of isolation African Dutch became cor- 



CAPE TOWN AND ENVIRONS 29 

rupted until it became as different from the mother 
tongue as the Africander is from the Hollander. 
It is the language of the farms and the working peo- 
ple. An effort is being made to preserve the Dutch 
of Holland by teaching it in all the schools. 

An hour beyond Stellenbosch we stop at the village 
of Wellington. Here is the only woman's college 
on this continent, Huguenot College, the out- 
growth of a school founded by two American women 
more than thirty years ago. Let us stop here long 
enough to find out something about the African 
school girl and her work and play. She is usually an 
athlete and knows all the fine points of basket ball, 
tennis and golf and is keen about hockey and cricket. 
She knows the score of her brother's football team 
that is playing for the country cup. Base ball is an 
unknown game, although the English rounders is 
somewhat similar. 

The students here are mostly Boers, with a few 
daughters of European and English families. The 
teachers are nearly all graduates of American col- 
leges and universities. We had not expected to find 
such excellent opportunities for higher education in 
this far-away land. 

The universal recreation is picnicking, which Afri- 
canders understand far better than we— a subject im- 
portant enough for a chapter in itself. Shall we lin- 
ger a day at this girls' college and join them in a 
picnic ? 



A PICNIC 

Let us join a party going out on a botanizing expe- 
dition — it is Friday afternoon, lessons are over by two 
o'clock, and half an hour later the party is at the rail- 
way station, looking for the special carriage (car) 
which the railway company has kindly put at their 
disposal for two days. One of the teachers buys a 
party ticket, which brings the average cost of the 
journey of one hundred and thirty miles to about a 
dollar each. In South Africa all teachers and stu- 
dents are allowed to travel for half- fare on the rail- 
ways. Our destination is Houw Hoek (How Hook) , 
about sixty miles southeast of Cape Town, which can 
not be reached before nine or ten o'clock at night. 

Our special carriage is very much like the Ameri- 
can sleeping cars that have a corridor along one side 
and compartments on the other. The ordinary rail- 
way carriages of South Africa are like those of all 
European countries, made up of compartments run- 
ning crosswise, the entrance being from doors on 
either side. Within each compartment are two long 
seats accommodating four or five passengers each, 
who sit facing each other. In a way, traveling thus 
is very interesting to a foreigner who likes to study 
the faces of the people through whose country he is 
passing. Again, such close quarters tend to make 

30 



A PICNIC 



31 



the company sociable, and one is often invited to 
share lunches with fellow passengers. The luxury 
of traveling as known in America is an experience 
for the Africander yet 
to enjoy when he visits 
our country. 

As evening comes 
on we all sit looking 
out of the windows, 
or stand on the plat- 
forms, for we are going 
through Sir Lowry's 
Pass in the Hottentot . 
Holland Mountains. 
The railway winds 
back and forth up the 
side of one mountain 
for an hour or more 
and finally goes through the pass, then down on the 
other side, just as we went up. The scenery is very 
beautiful, especially at sunset, when the mountains 
are all aglow with the reflected colors of the ever- 
changing sunset sky. The mountains, like all South 
African mountains, are bold, rugged, and rocky, 
almost devoid of vegetation. 

One remarkable feature of this land is the scarcity 
of water; there are practically no lakes and very few 
rivers. In the dry season the smaller streams are 
absolutely dry, while the larger ones shrink to mere 




5 OR 6 IN. LONG — WHITE 
TIPPED WITH BLACK 



32 



SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 



brooks. As a consequence, there are no natural for- 
ests, and the traveler finds the country most monoto- 
nous. But the children born here love their country 
just as American children love theirs. 

Soon it grows dark, — then the stars come forth. 
What brilliant points of light they seem in these 
clear skies ! Surely the African moon, by whose light 
we can read, is brighter and larger than ours! It 

bathes the veld with 
its white light until 
it seems an endless 
field of snow. The 
students look up into 
the heavens to find 
the constellations. Of 
course you know that 
in the southern hemi- 
sphere certain stars 
are visible w r hich you 
can never see without 
crossing the equator. 
The most beautiful 
southern constellation is the Southern Cross, one star 
of which points to the south pole star. Orion, with 
the three bright stars in his belt, would not be recog- 
nized in South Africa, for here he is seen upside down. 
By bedtime the train arrives at Houw Hoek and 
our carriage is shunted (switched) to a side track, 
where we are to pass the night. In this country there 




7 IN. DIAMETER — VELVETY PINK 



A PICNIC 



33 



are no regular sleeping cars such as you are accus- 
tomed to see. The passengers pull down the berths, 
and the process of going to bed consists of climbing 
into the berths, rolling oneself up in a traveling-rug 
with a small pillow under the head, and this the boys 
and girls of South Africa call solid comfort. 

Early in the morning the picnic party is up; the 
bo3^s have been busy gathering sticks for a fire, and by 
the time the others are up breakfast is all ready and 
soon a merry party is seated around the fire. 

A South African picnic means a coffee-pot and a 
fire. No one can make 
better coffee than an 
African boy; the fine 
flavor he claims is due 
to the stirring given it 
at the last minute 
with a glowing stick. 
The sandwiches are 
toasted on long forked 
branches. All must 
be served before the 
feast can begin. It is 
pleasant to remember 
how willing the young 
Africanders are to 
wait on others, and also their natural courtesy. 

Later the cups are washed and put back in the car- 
riage, and all start off in various directions to gather 




PRIDE OF TABLE MOUNTAIN — 3 IN. 
TIP TO TIP — FIRE RED 



34 



SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 



flowers, many of which they will use in their lessons. 
Such wonderful and beautiful flowers they are, 
though very unlike the wild flowers of America — we 

wish we might show 
you a picture of each 
strange flower and 
plant, but since there 
are hundreds of va- 
rieties this is impos- 
sible. The children 
of this country are 
taught botany from 
the lowest grades, as 
American children 
are taught physiolo- 
gy, so they soon learn 
to know all the native 
plants, 
Just a word in passing, about a few of the botanical 
wonders of South Africa. The Silver Trees shimmer 
in the brilliant sunshine. These unique trees, one of 
the few varieties of trees found in Cape Colony, are 
native to one spot, namely, Table Mountain, growing 
majestically upright to a height of forty or fifty feet. 
The fruit is in the form of large cones, and it belongs 
to a family of ancient lineage, the proteaceae, abund- 
antly represented in the western part of Cape Colony 
by beautiful flowering shrubs. The elliptical leaves 
of the silver tree are beautifully coated on both sur- 




TWO IN. DIAMETER — BRILLIANT COLORS 



A PICNIC 



35 



faces with a thick pile of silvery satin hairs. 
Large fields of Arums (our lovely calla lily) grow 
as weeds and mark the paths of the streams with their 
stately white and gold flowers. Pig lilies they are 
called, as they are eagerly eaten by the long razor- 
back pigs. 



«• "*»-- * ** 




*• 


3% 


p 


fi 


401' -~ *. 


1" 
* 

*2 


V V* 


^^ ^^^ (M.^ I^^k. ' r * 


- 


u** f z J 


4^^ 


/ ^ 




i-"** 




i ^ -^ 




1 


1 

1 



SOUTH AFRICAN WEEDS — ARUM LILIES 

Pelargoniums (the household geranium) grow in 
great variety, and beautiful orchids may be gathered 
by the hundreds. 

When our picnic party return to the carriage at 
dinner time, they bring with them a beautiful collec- 
tion of flowers and ferns. While some are prepar- 



36 SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 

ing dinner, others are decorating the doors and win- 
dows of our carriage, and even the two end platforms 
are soon transformed into bowers of green vines and 
flowers. 

As we journey homeward in our gayly decorated 
carriage, the young people of our party tell us some- 
thing of their work and we learn how the life of an 
African student differs from that of an American 
student. 



EDUCATION 

The examination system of England and Scot- 
land exists here. The year's work is tested by a 
week's examination at the end. The papers are set 
by inspectors for the lower grades, and the Univer- 
sity of the Cape of Good Hope, an examining body, 
sets the questions for the candidates for a college de- 
gree. On the same day and at the same hour, young 
people a thousand or more miles apart are answering 
identical questions, and your friend in Central Africa 
may ask you at the Cape how you answered the fifth 
question in arithmetic. The all-important subject in 
South Africa is arithmetic, and perhaps the reason 
that much more time is given to it than in our coun- 
try is because it is more difficult to work with pounds, 
shillings, and pence than with our decimal dollars 
and cents. 

The lists of successful candidates are published in 
all the daily papers, and if you pass first in your class 
all of South Africa knows it. The government is 
most generous in giving prizes and scholarships. A 
girl of seventeen from Huguenot College earned in 
her first year of college work about four thousand 
dollars in scholarships, so here study may be made 
profitable in more senses than one. 

Many of the children on the lonely, scattered 

37 



38 SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 

farms may be too young to go away to school, or they 
may be too poor. For these there is the farm-school. 
The teacher boards in the farmer's family and the lit- 

a/ 

tie flock is taught in the home. The families on the 
farms usually number from ten to twenty children, 
' but for as few as six the government shares in the 
expenses of the school. 

Our patriotism goes no farther than the United 
States — our country is the land in which we live; not 
so with the British colonist.. His ambition is to be 
rich enough to send his son or daughter to study in 
the land which he calls home, even after an absence 
of perhaps a score of j r ears. This may give a wider 
experience, but it does not increase affection for the 
land of one's birth, and the schools are thereby im- 
poverished. 

The young people of South Africa have unusually 
good memories, and their out-of-door life makes 
them keenly observant. 

In the rough farmhouse with its mud floors, the 
piano is a necessary piece of furniture. The young 
people are as keen about their music examinations as 
about their record in other studies. Much time is 
spent on technique and the teaching is very thorough. 
Questions are set on musical theory, and examiners 
from England travel through South Africa once a 
year, and each pupil performs in turn before these in- 
spectors. The one passing highest in the most ad- 
vanced division (there are four divisions) is awarded 



EDUCATION 39 

an exhibition (scholarship) of seven hundred and 
fifty dollars a year for three successive years. With 
this money the successful candidate must go to Lon- 
don to study at the Royal Academy or the Royal Col- 
lege of Music. Besides this prize there are ten or 
more fifty dollar bursaries (scholarships) given 
yearly to those pupils who show great musical ability 
and promise. A really talented pupil can not com- 
plain of lack of encouragement in his musical am- 
bitions. 



THE CAXGO CAVES 

The two great natural wonders of South Africa 
are the Victoria Falls and the Cango Caves. They 
are visited by tourists not only for their marvelous 
beauty but also for their geological interest. Amer- 
icans are accused of boasting that they have the larg- 
est of everything in their country, but Victoria Falls 
surpass Xiagara in size and the Cango Caves are 
probably the largest limestone caves in the world. 

The most interesting things in Africa are not for 
the hurried tourist. Any route from Cape Town to 
the Cango Caves involves a post-cart journey, and at 
least one night on the train. The usual journey is 
from Cape Town to Prince Albert Road, thence over 
the mountain a day's journey by post-cart. The drive 
does not seem long because of the surpassing beauty 
of the scenery. We go through the rocky pass of the 
Zwartberg Mountains and along the famous Cango 
Valley. No artist's picture can rival in color the 
lovely sunset tints which change from gorgeous red 
and gold to softest purple and gray. 

We spend the night at the little Cango Inn, and 
after a late breakfast are ready for our hard day of 
exploring. We have been warned at the inn that two 
things are necessary — an experienced guide and a 
plentiful supply of candles. We question the ex- 
perience of the youthful guide whom the innkeeper 

40 



THE CANGO CAVES 



41 



brings to us, but the boy explains that the position of 
guide to the caves is hereditary in his family, and we 
find before our exploring is finished that he has the 
wisdom of his ancestors 
and the daring of youth. 
A short climb up a hill- 
side brings us to an im- 
posing portico of over- 
hanging rock, not unlike 
the entrance to a great 
theatre. 

We are rather disap- 
pointed because our guide 
has no thrilling stories to 
tell about those who have 
been lost in the caves; 
not even a dog has been 
entombed here, for a mas- 
sive iron gate bars our 

entrance, which only the official guide can open. 
These caves were discovered more than a hundred 
years ago by a shepherd who followed the track of 
his strayed sheep to the cave's entrance. This great 
cavern in the heart of the mountains has never been 
fully explored — the best estimate of its extent is 
furnished by our guide: "You can walk until you are 
tired, and then there is a lot that you haven't seen." 

The iron gate clangs shut and our guide, like the 
Pied Piper of Hamlin, leads us enchanted into the 




CANGO CAVES 
ENTRANCE TO CAVES 



42 



SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 



depths of the mountain. We walk gropingly until 
our eyes forget the glare of the sun and we become 
accustomed to the light of our flickering candles. A 
long hall leads into an immense chamber the size 
of which we realize more fully when the guide illumi- 
nates it with a magnesium ribbon. This is Van Zyl's 
chamber, named for the discoverer. We can imagine 
how the simple herdsman marveled to find himself 
in such a strange apartment. Giant stalactites like 
glistening icicles hang from the vaulted ceiling; we 

can almost imagine our- 
selves in one of the famed 
art galleries of Europe, 
wandering through a rocm 
where many of the great 
masters' works are in 
broken fragments, for the 
sharply pointed stalag- 
mites have often been 
broken off, forming ped- 
estals surmounted by 
strange figures. From 
room to room we pass un- 
til we arrive at the bride's 
chamber, a bower of lacy 
filigree. A white dressing 
table with a graceful canopy awaits the bride. The 
bride is evidently not far away, for her open parasol, 
daintily flounced, stands near the table. 




CANGO CAVES 
NEW COLUMN CHAMBER 



THE CAN GO CAVES 



43 



Minerals have stained the crystals various colors. 
One chamber is lined with shining gray, and there are 
other rooms where the limestone shades into pinks and 
yellows. The chambers lead into one another, some- 
times by wide arches, sometimes by openings so small 




CANGO CAVES. THE OLD THRONE ROOM 

that we force our way through with difficulty. Now 
we come to a staircase leading to an upper story of 
splendid apartments, which we explore. 

The hazardous part of our journey is before us; 
with candle in hand we begin to descend a perpendicu- 
lar rope ladder, thirty feet long. The perilous descent 
is well rewarded. The new series of chambers is even 



44 SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 

finer than those we have left behind us. Here the 
rooms are draped with long soft curtains of translu- 
cent white. A light placed behind the drapery shows 
the beauty of these luminous folds. 

In some of the little grottoes we pass, the stalac- 
tites, a few inches in length, take on queer twisted 
shapes, and sometimes the walls of the rooms are a 
mass of curly tendrils in many delicate colors. The 
continual drip, drip, in the farther caverns, tells us 
that the water stored up in the mountain is still slowly 
percolating through the cave walls with its burden of 
limestone. No one can estimate how r long these caves 
have been forming, but we know that it is a long, long 
story. 

The warm water flowing beneath the surface of the 
earth, usually under pressure, has carbon dioxide in 
solution. This is capable of dissolving the limestone 
strata through which it works its way, and so the cave 
is formed. As the water comes to the surface and in 
contact with the air, the carbon dioxide evaporates. 
The drop can no longer hold its tiny particle in solu- 
tion but leaves it as a small contribution to the form- 
ing stalactite. If, however, the water drop succeeds 
in carrying its dissolved limestone with it in its fall to 
the ground, the separation is only delayed a little 
longer. The water finally evaporates after having 
done its share toward building up a growing stalag- 
mite. This almost imperceptible growth goes on until 
the stalactites and stalagmites meet and form the 



THE CANGO CAYES 45 

stately pillars that give the semblance of strength to 
the cave. 

A two hours' walk from the entrance of the cave 
brings us to a great rough cavern, very different in 
appearance from the delicate white chambers through 
which we have passed. The hard gray rock is over 
us, and everywhere is a chaos of broken fragments of 
stone. It is as though a great cave had been formed, 
and the pressure of the mountain had crushed its 
walls and covered the floor with the broken pieces. 
So complete is the ruin and chaos that "The Devil's 
Workshop" seems a fitting name. 

"Have we seen it all?" we ask the guide. "You 
have seen as much as most people," he replies, and we 
take this as a hint that it is time to turn back. 

The guide hurries on and we lose sight of him. 
"Let us blow r out our lights and scare him," some one 
suggests. We sit crouched in utter blackness, rest- 
ing and enjoying our supply of oranges. Many min- 
utes pass and we grow tired of our joke. Our faint 
halloo is answered by some one very near us. It is our 
boyish guide who has been playing the same trick on 
us only a few feet away. How good the first streaks 
of daylight seem! We realize how wonderful it is to 
be a creature of the sunlight and open air. 

The four hours in the cave have not improved our 
appearance — the narrow passages through which we 
have crawled with so much difficulty have left their 
traces, and our hands, faces and garments are daubed 



46 



SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 



with wet clay and mud. However, none of our party 
had the unfortunate experience of the fat man about 
whom the guide tells us. The smallest of the holes 
held him fast until the guide came to his rescue, and 
persuaded him that he must give up the caverns be- 
yond. 

We hasten down the hillside to the clear river. Af- 
ter an hour's hard work and a complete change of cos- 
tume we are ready for the drive along the road to 
Oudtshoorn. An early dinner, and w r e are on our 




ON AN OSTRICH FARM 



way. All the ruggedness of scenery is behind us — 
now we look across peaceful valleys and quiet streams. 
Flocks of sheep, and hundreds of ostriches in the 
same enclosures, are nibbling and pecking the green 
lucerne (alfalfa). As we drive along over the 



THE CANGO CAVES 47 

smoothest of walled roads the ostriches come near 
the fence and seem to look at us with curiosity. The 
plain gray mother-bird, the black and white father- 
bird, and the scrawny little baby ostriches make an 
interesting family. These children improve as they 
grow older, but in their infant stages they are as 
bristling as porcupines. Everywhere are the orange 
groves for which this part of the country is famous. 
The Kafir children swarming about the doorways of 
their gray huts seem to feel the contagion of our 
happiness in being alive and in the sunlight, and 
wave and call to us until we are out of sight. 



"UP-COUNTRY" JOURNEY 

In planning a long journey through South Africa 
one has no such choice of routes as is to be had in the 
United States. The only long railway line in South 
Africa starts from Cape Town and runs north to 
De Aar, 500 miles, at which place it branches south- 
eastward to Port Elizabeth and other cities on the 
seacoast, and northeast to Johannesburg and Kim- 
berley. On this trip we shall go first to Kimberley, 
on the Zambesi Express, a thirty hours' ride from 
Cape Town, and a distance of about six hundred and 
fifty miles. From which we see that the average speed 
of this express train is about twenty-one miles an hour 
— w r e in America would call it a slow freight, would 
we not? But the South African express has some 
advantages over the American trains that tear 
through the country at fifty miles or more an hour — 
the almost absolute safety in making a journey and 
the fine opportunity of seeing the country through 
wkich one is leisurely passing. 

For about fifty miles beyond Wellington the rail- 
way winds in and out among the mountains, and 
from the scenery one might easily imagine himself 
in Switzerland. The beautiful sunset tints on the 
Hex Mountains are not unlike the Alpine glow which 
all too soon fades from our view. The railway takes 
a spiral path up one high mountain, passing now 

48 



"up-country" journey 49 

and then through small tunnels, and from our win- 
dow we can look far down below us and see our track 
in several places. The Hex River valley is renowned 
throughout South Africa for its beautiful fruit — at 
all the stations colored boys besiege us with their bas- 
kets of tempting wares. We lean far out our window T 
and buy luscious grapes in large clusters of a pound 
or more, also peaches and plums, which resemble our 
beautiful California fruit — in fact, these very grapes 
that we have just bought are probably from vines 
transplanted from far-distant California, to which 
state so many Africanders go to learn the best meth- 
ods of fruit raising. 

We soon leave the grand and rocky mountains be- 
hind us, and then begins the most tiresome part of 
our journey, traveling through the Karroo. 

THE KARROO 

The Karroo is a vast shallow- basin and is supposed 
to be the bed of a prehistoric lake, the w r aters of 
which later broke through the surrounding mountain 
ranges and flowed into the sea. Its altitude varies 
from 1,800 to 2,500 feet above the sea level. Some 
of the mountains on the rim are from 4,000 to 8,000 
feet high, while others dwindle down to mere hills. 
There are numerous beds of rivers and small streams, 
dry, or nearly so, the greater part of the year; how- 
ever, after a heavy thunderstorm in the summer these 
streams are raging torrents for a short time only, 



50 SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 

for they soon again become dry. Generally speak- 
ing, the Karroo is a desert, still the soil is very fer- 
tile, and where irrigation has been tried the results 
are most gratifying. 

In the dry season the wind sweeps across the Kar- 
roo, blowing great clouds of dust, which obscure the 
view in every direction; the passengers on the train 
can not see the towns which they are approaching un- 
til they arrive at the stations. Sometimes the view is 
hidden not by dust clouds, but by great swarms of 
locusts, there being millions of the insects. This 
pest will often sweep down on a district and in a few 
hours the crops and fruit for miles around will be 
totally destroyed. Just here it might be interesting 
to note that roasted locusts (the wings having first 
been removed) are served as a delicate dish by some 
of the best families of South Africa. 

In the rainy season the Karroo is an excellent graz- 
ing ground for sheep and the flocks rapidly increase. 
The general aspect of the vegetation when at its best 
is not a green color, such as is characteristic of Amer- 
ican plains, but rather a bluish gray. This peculiar 
hue is caused by the lime-incrusted, wax-covered, or 
hairy leaves. The Karroo is the home of the Mes- 
em-bry-an-the-mum, to which family our cultivated 
ice-plant belongs. Karroo flowers belonging to this 
order are sometimes three inches across and gorgeous 
in their coloring, ranging from pale saffron to 
brilliant orange, and from white and pink to deepest 



ii 



up-country" journey 51 



crimson and magenta. In some places in the Karroo, 
wells have been successfully bored, but the water is 
often of an alkaline or salty nature, in which event it 
parches the soil. Much of the vegetation shows in 
the leaves this salty nature of the soil. 

In a journey through the Karroo, the passenger on 
the train sees very little of interest from his window 
and he welcomes the darkness of night which shuts 
out the monotony of the scene and the heat of the 
day. At Matjesfontein (Matches- fontain) we are 
reminded of the battle fought there in the recent 
Boer War. This was also the home before her mar- 
riage of the writer, Olive Schreiner (Ralph Iron), 
who at the age of nineteen became famous through 
her book, "The Story of an African Farm." This 
town is a resort for consumptives, because of the dry 
air of the Karroo winter. 

Beaufort West is the largest Karroo town. The 
large dam (reservoir) just outside the town supplies 
water to the village through the long periods of 
drought w r hich the region often suffers. This dis- 
trict is a fine example of what irrigation will do for 
a desert. 

Gardens of flowers and fruit beautify the town, 
and the avenues of pear trees that scatter their petals 
in September are the pride of the residents. 

Young ladies in white daintily frilled gowns meet 
us at the station with cakes and hot coffee, as is the 
hospitable custom of the country when people know 



52 SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 

that friends are passing through their town. In spite 
of the blinding dust storm in which w r e have arrived 
at Beaufort West, our friends express their delight in 
a recent six inches of rainfall, which is more than the 
total annual rainfall in several previous years. 

The towns and villages along the line look much 
alike, and the farther up country we go the more in 
evidence are tin and corrugated iron as building ma- 
terial. We have actually seen small rude dwellings 
and even shops made entirely of the tin from old 
paraffin (kerosene) tins. All the oil in this coun- 
try is imported, usually from America, in four-gallon 
tins, and no one who has not traveled in South Africa 
can imagine the various uses to which the empty 
cans are put. These tins often have their upper edges 
rolled over artistically and after having been painted 
red or green are transformed into flower pots. Where 
large cans are needed for jams and preserves one 
finds the fruit put up in these same paraffin tins. 
The farmer, too, uses them for carrying his butter 
to market, and the housewives are sometimes troubled 
w r ith the butter thus savoring of oil. 

What can that woman be carrying -who is just 
about to board our train at Letjes-Eosch (Lettys- 
Bush) ? It is the inevitable paraffin tin, but with a 
good padlock and a firm handle the transformation 
into a hat box is most unique. By the way, the ma- 
jority of the people in this country travel with tin 
hat boxes and tin trunks. If you go up country 



"up-country" journey 53 

with a smart new leather box (trunk) just from Eng- 
land, you may find next morning a few scattered 
shreds of leather; but that is the story of the white 
ants which we shall tell later. 

The parting sight is a Kafir boy carrying a four- 
cornered pail on his head, the paraffin tin in another 
guise. We admire his poise as he bows to his friends, 
seemingly unconscious of his burden. The children 
are trained in this art from early youth. The mother 
weaves a small straw circlet to support the weight on 
the head of her child, who carries at the same time her 
youngest brother or sister on her back. Gradually 
the burden is increased until it is no uncommon sight 
to see a woman coming home at night with the mor- 
row's wood on her head, a baby on her back, and a 
pail in either hand. The women become very skillful 
in balancing. We have seen a graceful Kafir girl 
carrying a tall vinegar bottle on her head. Not a 
drop was spilled as she stooped beneath the fence and 
continued her walk without having raised her hands 
to her head to steady the burden. 

On this journey we have a good opportunity of see- 
ing the kopjes (copies) that caused the British army 
so much trouble in the late war. The monotony of 
the Karroo is broken by what appear to be earth 
mounds made by a giant mole. On closer view we 
are inclined to think that a New England farmer has 
piled all the stones from his land in great heaps. The 
kopjes vary in size from a mound no greater than a 



54 



SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 



large haystack to a hill that could screen a small 
army in time of war, and, indeed, the British and Boer 

soldiers played 
many a game 
of hide and seek 
around these 
hills. 

Besides these 
natural defen- 
ses the line of 
war is marked 
by block houses 
and lonely cem- 
eteries. Where 
the block hous- 
es are still stand- 
ing we see they 
are like little 
round or square 
towers built of 
stone or corru- 
gated iron, 
large enough to accommodate from four to ten 
soldiers. Their perfect condition speaks of a very 
recent war. The heaped up rings of earth, mark- 
ing the places where these defenses have been de- 
stroyed, are not unlike the tenting-ground of a 
great circus the day after its departure, when the gray 
light of morning dispels the glamor of action and 




BLOCK HOUSE 



"up-country" journey 55 

peril. Boer and Briton rest side by side on tne field 
for which they fought, their graves marked by count- 
less little white crosses. The desolation of the Kar- 
roo tells the old story of man's striving to gain what 
is not worth the holding. 

Our time table indicates the struggle of the Dutch 
and English for supremacy, but in the uninviting 
tracts of country such as this certainly is, the Dutch 
names predominate. Our guide book gives us eight 
towns ending in "fontein" (fountain or spring) ; this 
does not mean that there is plenty of water, for we 
are still in the Karroo. These towns, originally the 
sites of farms, were called "Mynfontein" (my foun- 
tain), and other fonteins by the farmer, who having 
found on his farm a tiny spring, perhaps, published 
the fact in the name. There is the "City of the Foun- 
tain of Flowers," "Bloemfontein," and the less poet- 
ical though no less actually existing "Puff adder fon- 
tein." Every abiding place has its name — the small- 
est village and even the most modest little cottage. 
The variety in names show r s the cosmopolitan nature 
of South African home-makers. In Cape Town, for 
instance, on the gatepost of the handsome house of 
a Malay doctor we read "Noorbach;" there is "Bon- 
nie Brae," for the Scotchman; and the German ex- 
presses his contentment by "Friedenheim." 

About three hours from Kimberley we cross the 
Orange River, the boundary between Cape Colony 
and the Orange River Colony; before the war this 



56 SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 

was the Orange Free State, a name to which the 
Dutch still cling. 

As our train draws near to Kimberley we seem to 
be passing through tin villages, for the little huts of 
the locations are built of old paraffin tins or well 
patched with them. A location is a settlement of na- 
tives just beyond the limits of a town, without any of 
the picturesqueness of a Kafir kraal (a collection of 
huts surrounded by a fence ) , where reeds and thatch 
lend a charm to which the contributions from the 
Standard Oil Company could not add. 

Sometimes a Kafir builds his location hut very sim- 

a/ 

ply, w r ith four upright poles and a piece of sail cloth. 
Speaking of sail cloth, there are many uses of this 
material in South Africa. Instead of freight being 
stored in buildings well protected from the wind and 
weather, at station after station it lies on the ground 
covered over with very heavy sail cloth painted dark 
gray. Great piles of goods awaiting shipment often 
rise to the height of a two-story building, resembling, 
in the twilight, with their gray draperies, a caravan 
of huge elephants. 



KIMBERLEY 

The underground cavern lined with precious stones 
where Aladdin found his wonderful lamp is sup- 
posed to be in Arabia within the domains of Haroun- 
al-Raschid, but there is one very like it in South 
Africa within the kingdom of Edward VII. In the 
blue caves of Kimberley the diamonds do not sparkle 
from the w r alls, but just because they are more diffi- 
cult to find, the search is more exciting than it could 
possibly have been in Aladdin's cave. Some forty 
years ago a shining pebble was found by chance on 
the sands of the Vaal River; then began the search 
for diamonds which has continued ever since by day 
and by night. 

The following interesting account of the finding 
of the first diamond was given recently by Mr. Gard- 
ner F. Williams, a former manager of the De Beers 
diamond mines: 

"The first diamond in South Africa was found by 
the children of a trekking Boer named Daniel Jacobs. 
He was a poor farmer, who made his home in a 
squalid hovel on the banks of the Orange River near 
the little settlement of Hopetown. It was roughly 
partitioned to form a bedroom and kitchen, and its 
earthen floor was smeared weekly with a polishing 
paste of filth and water. Father, mother and children 
slept together on a rude frame overlaced with raw- 
hide strips. Here the children were brought up with 

57 



58 SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 

little more care than the goats and sheep that browsed 
on the kopjes. When the herds were turned out of 
the kraal the children ran after them and roamed 
over the pasture land all day long like the flocks, but 
the instinct of childhood will find playthings on 
the face of the most barren karroo, and the Jacobs 
children were close to the edge of a river which was 
strewn with uncommonly beautiful pebbles mixed 
with coarser gravel. 

"A heap of these parti-colored stones was so com- 
mon a sight in the yard or on the floor of a farm- 
house on the banks of the Orange or the Vaal that 
none of the plodding Boers gave it a second glance. 
But when the children tossed the stones about, a little 
white pebble was so sparkling in the sunlight that it 
caught the eye of the farmer's wife. She did not 
care enough for it to pick it up, but spoke of it as a 
curious stone to a neighbor, Schalk van Xiekerk. 
Van Xiekerk asked to see it, but it was not in the 
heap. One of the children had rolled it away in the 
yard. After some little search it was found in the 
dust, for nobody on the farm would stoop for such a 
trifle. When Van Xiekerk wiped the dust off, the 
little stone glittered so prettily that he offered to buy 
it. The good vrouw laughed at the idea of selling 
a pebble. 'You can keep the stone if you want it,' 
she said. So Van Niekerk put it in his pocket and 
carried it home. He had only a vague notion that 
it might have some value, and put it in the hands of a 



KIMBERLEY 59 

traveling trader, John O'Reilly, who undertook to 
find out what kind of a stone the little crystal was 
and whether it could be sold. 

"He showed the stone to several Jews in Hopetown 
and in Colesburg, a settlement farther up the Orange 
River valley. No one of these would give a penny 
for it. 'It is a pretty stone enough,' they said, 'prob- 
ably a topaz,' but nobody would pay anything for it. 

"Perhaps O'Reilly would have thrown the stone 
away if it had not come under the eye of the acting 
civil commissioner at Colesburg, Lorenzo Boyes. 
Mr. Boyes found on trial that the stone would 
scratch glass. 

'I believe it to be a diamond,' he observed gravely. 

"O'Reilly was greatly cheered up. 'You are the 
only man I have seen,' he said, 'who says it is worth 
anything. Whatever it is worth, you shall have a 
share in it.' 

'Nonsense,' broke in Dr. Kirsch, a private 
apothecary of the town, who was present, 'I'll bet 
Boyes a new hat it is only a topaz.' 

'I'll take the bet,' replied Mr. Boyes, and at his 
suggestion the stone was sent for determination to 
the foremost mineralogist of the colony, Dr. W. 
Guybon Ather stone, residing at Grahamstown. It 
was so lightly valued that it was put in an unsealed 
envelope and carried to Grahamstown in the regular 
postcart. 

"When the postboy handed the letter to Mr. Ath- 



60 SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 

erstone the little river stone fell out and rolled away. 
The doctor picked it up and read the letter of trans- 
mission. Then he examined the pebble expertly and 
wrote to Mr. Boyes: 'I congratulate you on the 
stone you have sent me. It is a veritable diamond, 
weighs tw T enty-one and a quarter carats, and is worth 
£500.' Sir Philip Wodehouse, the governor at the 
Cape, bought the rough diamond at once, at the value 
fixed by Dr. Atherstone. The stone was sent im- 
mediately to the Paris Exposition, w r here it was 
viewed with much interest, but its discovery at first 
did not cause any great sensation. 

"Meanwhile Mr. Boyes hastened to Hopetown and 
to Van Niekerk's farm to search along the river shore 
where the first diamond was found. He prodded the 
phlegmatic farmers and their black servants, raked 
over many bushels of pebbles for tw T o weeks, but 
no second diamond repaid his labor. Still the news 
of the finding of the first stone made the farmers 
near the river look sharply at every heap of pebbles 
in the hope of finding one of the precious 'blink 
klippe' (bright stones), as the Boers named the dia- 
mond, and many bits of shining rock crystal were 
carefully pocketed, in the persuasion that the glitter- 
ing stones were diamonds. But it was ten months 
from the time of the discovery at Hopetown before 
a second diamond was found, and this was in a spot 
more than thirty miles away, on the river bank below 
the junction of the Vaal and Orange rivers. 



KIMBERLEY 61 

"In March, 1869, a superb white diamond, weigh- 
ing 83.5 carats, was picked up by a Griqua shepherd 
boy on the farm Zendfontein, near the Orange River. 
Schalk van Xiekerk bought this stone for a mon- 
strous price in the eyes of the poor shepherd — 
500 sheep, ten oxen and a horse — but the lucky pur- 
chaser sold it easily for £11,200 to Lilienf eld Brothers 
of Hopetown, and it was subsequently purchased by 
Earl Dudley for £25,000. This extraordinary gem, 
which soon became famous as the 'Star' of South 
Africa,' drew all eyes to a field which could yield 
such products, and the existence and position of dia- 
mond beds w r as soon further assured and defined by 
the finding of many smaller stones in the alluvial 
gravel on the banks of the Vaal. 

"From the time of Solomon and the Queen of 
Sheba, however, adventurers have been searching in 
Africa for the source of the gold and jewels, the 
marvels of Ophir, which they displayed, and, al- 
though it is mostly conjecture, a large part of the 
wealth of the scriptural kings and millionaires no 
doubt came from the interior of Africa. The tradi- 
tions of King Solomon's mines lured thousands of 
enterprising explorers into the wilderness, and it is 
perhaps true that they have been discovered. An in- 
trepid German explorer named Carl Mauch in 1871 
discovered an extraordinary lot of ruins at Zimbabwe, 
and gold fields closely adjacent to them. These 
have been called the ruined cities of Mashonaland. 



62 SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 

Unfortunately for his credit as an archaeologist, 
Mauch insisted that an old building on a hill was a 
copy of King Solomon's temple on Mount Moriah, 
and that the lower ruins reproduced the palace inhab- 
ited by the Queen of Sheba during her stay of sev- 
eral years in Jerusalem. This does not impair, how- 
ever, the probable accuracy of his main contention, 
that he had revealed part of the ancient workings of 
the people who furnished the gold to Arabia and 
Judea in the days of Solomon. 

"Without entering into the varied researches, it 
may be observed that Ophir was not the source of 
the gold, but a port on the south coast of Arabia 
through which the flow of gold came by sea. Havi- 
lah was the land whence came the gold of Ophir, 
a great tract in southeastern Africa, largely identi- 
fied with modern Rhodesia. The ancient gold work- 
ings of this region were first opened by South Ara- 
bian Himyarites, who were followed (but not before 
the time of Solomon) by the Phenicians, and these 
very much later by Moslem Arabs. Tharshish was 
the outlet for the precious metals and stones of Havi- 
lah, and stood probably on the present site of Sofala. 
The Queen of Sheba came by land and not over the 
seas to the court of Solomon. Her kingdom was 
Yemen, Arabia, where our mocha coffee comes 
from." 

The diamond industry has transformed this spot in 
the desert into a busy world. For Kimberley is a stir- 



KIMBERLEY 



63 



ring city, if not an imposing one. Broad dusty ave- 
nues lined on either side with low brick cottages make 
up the residence portion of the town. The shops are 
interesting enough, but the purchases we planned to 
make we are 
obliged to 
postpone. Dia- 
monds are not 
given away in 
Kimberley — r 
New York or 
Amsterdam 
offers better 
bargains. The 
reason for this 
is found in the 
fact that the 
diamonds in 
the rough are 
sent to Holland 
chiefly, for 
cutting; when 
the stone is 
returned to Af- 
rica it must pay 
a fairly heavy 

duty, then add to this the increased price due to high 
rents, and we find that the home of the diamond is not 
the best place to buy it. 




KIMBERLEY DIAMOND MINE 



64 SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 

At the end of the principal street is a great ex- 
cavation, which is pointed to with pride as the biggest 
hole in the world dug out by hand. A number of 
our tallest sky-scrapers could be inverted in this hole 
and completely buried. 

This excavation was begun in the days when every 
man staked off his own claim and the mining was 
done with pick and shovel. The thousands of small 
holdings have all been merged into one great com- 
pany — the De Beers Consolidated. 

The earth is no longer removed by the patient la- 
borer with his shovel. Let us begin with one of the 
largest of the Kimberley open mines and trace the 
process of diamond mining as it is scientifically car- 
ried on today. We look over the edge of the Wessel- 
ton hole — so deep is it that the toilers down below 
look like little brownies with their barrows. At a sig- 
nal we see them scampering in all directions and dis- 
appearing within mysterious caves in the hillsides. 
We accept the suggestion to retreat within the little 
summer house protected by an iron screen. There is 
a dull rumble and a small volcano breaks forth below 
us— then a greater shock, and rocks and soil in an- 
other part of the mine are thrown in all directions. 
It seems as if the enraged Cyclops have at last been 
able to lift the awful mass of earth which has been 
pressing upon them during the long ages and are 
breaking forth everywhere full of violence and 
wrath. A dozen more explosions and the brownies 



KIMBERLEY 



65 



come forth from their hiding places and begin load- 
ing the broken masses of hard blue ground. Each 
car with its bur- 
den of invisible 
diamonds be- 
gins the ascent. 
There seems an 
endless proces- 
sion of cars as 
they follow each 
other on their 
way to the de- 
positing floors. 
Five million car 
loads are taken 
from the mines 
in a year and 
"laboriously 
washed and 
sorted for the 
sake of a few 
bucketfuls of 
diamonds. The 

earth removed would form a cube of more than 430 feet, 
or a block larger than any cathedral in the world, and 
overtopping the spire of St. Paul's, while a box with 
sides measuring 2 feet 9 inches would hold the gems." 
The diamond-bearing soil is spread out on the 
ground to be broken up by the action of air and water. 




66 SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 

The blue stone, which seems almost as hard as marble 
when first unearthed, after being exposed from three 
to nine months, becomes pulverized. Formerly the 
depositing floors were harrowed by the aid of mules, 
but now a modern steam harrow does the work of 
spreading and turning over the soil. You may be 
sure this precious soil is all safely enclosed and care- 
fully guarded. 

With miles of precious ground exposed it would 
seem that thieving might be a simple matter, and that 
a sparkling gem might tempt the passerby to brave 
the dangers of a barbed wire fence. But after all 
this coaxing of the soil there is still no evidence of dia- 
monds, and the manager of the mines says that dur- 
ing the fifteen years that he has overlooked these 
floors he has never seen a diamond there. But sup- 
pose a thief did see one and succeeded in making off 
with his prize, it would prove a heavy weight and he 
would be only too glad to return his unsalable booty. 
For every diamond mined is registered and to attempt 
to leave the country with an unregistered diamond in 
one's possession or to sell it is a crime. Furthermore 
if you should find a diamond in your own garden, it 
is not yours — so closely do the laws of the country 
; rotect the De Beers monopoly. 

Sometimes a Kafir discovers imbedded in the wall 

of some dark passage a shining stone, which if it 

oes not prove to be as big as Aladdin's roc's egg, is 

valuable enough to make him as rich as a Kafir wants 



KIMBERLEY 



67 



to be. He could not hope to escape from the closely 
encircling compound, — even if he did, an attempt to 
sell his prize would probably mean years of work on 
the breakwater, or he might be returned to the mines 
as a convict laborer. If the laborer brings his find 
at once to the overseer he is rewarded according to the 
value of the diamond. A convict receives a small 
sum for every carat, whereas a free Kafir is paid 
more. In the company's office we see one recently 
found as large as a pigeon's egg. The reward of 
about $150 enables the finder to return to his native 
haunts to live a Kafir's ideal life — a life of idleness. 
We admire the beauty stored up in this great stone, 
but we are told that it is less valuable than many 
smaller ones because of its delicate hue. 

At the end of the necessary number of months, the 
immense carpet of "blue" is again taken up. A fur- 
ther treatment had to be devised to persuade the stub- 
born earth to yield up its prize. After leaving the 
depositing floors the blue ground is mixed with water 
and washed, to separate diamonds and equally heavy 
minerals from lighter material. 

Until recently the separation of the diamonds from 
the other stones was not an easy matter, as it was 
done chiefly by hand-sorting. A discovery, a matter 
of chance, revolutionized diamond mining. You 
know how prospectors in the gold fields "pan out" by 
mixing the soil with water, and shaking it, that the 
heavy particles may fall to the bottom of the pan. 



68 



SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 



Where the mining is conducted on a little larger scale, 
the gravel mixed with water flows over a mercury bed ; 
the quicksilver seizes the fine gold and holds it. The 




HEADGEAR DE BEERS MINE 



amalgam formed may be broken up by heating — the 
liquid mercury evaporates and the gold is set free. 
Diamond mining is very similar. The diamond is a 
comparatively heavy stone. By washing and shaking, 
the lighter materials can be separated from the dia- 



KIMBERLEY 69 

monds and other heavy stones, but the question was 
how to separate the diamonds from pebbles of an al- 
most equal weight. A workman one day noticed that 
when he shook some of the earth prepared for wash- 
ing in a greasy pail, that had held his dinner, a dia- 
mond clung to the bottom. A further investigation 
showed the affinity of grease and diamonds. Rubies 
and emeralds show a similar fondness for an oily sur- 
face, but grease is particular, and when cheaper stones 
try to cling to the shaking grease-covered pans, called 
the pulsator, they are at once discarded and go tum- 
bling along with the water, while every diamond is 
seized and tightly held. It is a fascinating sight to 
see the white crystals separate themselves from the 
other pebbles — quartz looks very like the diamond, 
and when it falls on the greasy plate it goes rattling on 
down the incline, while every diamond remains firmly 
lodged where it first touches its greasy bed. The 
stupid grease never makes a mistake, and we wonder 
that it can discriminate better than our eyes or even 
more experienced ones. 

Every two or three hours the grease is scraped from 
the pans — it becomes useless when mixed with water 
from constant washing. This yellow pudding, with 
diamonds for plums, is heated; the grease disappears 
and the diamonds, mixed with a small amount of 
worthless material of an equal specific gravity, are 
sent to the sorting table. The sorter knows the qual- 
ity and the comparative size at a glance and the dia- 



70 SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 

monds are divided accordingly. In the room where 
the parcels are being prepared for shipment there are 
heaps of crystals of varying sizes and qualities, grad- 
ing down from the stones of many carats to tiny bril- 
liants. The dull gray ones are used for cutting, 
though sometimes it is found worth while to take a 
small white morsel out of the imperfect gray crystals. 
You may bathe your hands in diamonds and let quarts 
of the beautiful smooth white stones slip through your 
fingers. They are beautiful even in an uncut state, and 















A DAY'S DIAMOND WASH OF DE BEERS CO. 

have the delightful waxy feeling of satin-spar. Near- 
ly all of them are perfect crystals of the octahedron 
type, being made up of two four-faced pyramids, 
base to base. 

Xow r and then they appear in fantastic shapes or 
assume strange colors — in the strong room they show 



KIMBERLEY 71 

us diamonds as yellow as amber and others that take 
on various shades of pink and green. By some freak 
of nature one diamond has imprinted upon it the face 
of a clock, another a church steeple, and on a third 
there is deeply engraven the letter "Y." Sometimes 
one crystal forms within another, or a diamond crys- 
tallizes around a garnet. Small garnets are found in 
abundance mixed with the blue ground, and are given 
the name of Cape rubies. 

If you chance to visit the sorting room on Thurs- 
day an attendant will say to you: "What a pity you 
did not come on Monday, the day for giving away 
small diamonds!" Had you gone there on Monday, 
then Thursday w 7 ould have been the lucky day — it is 
any day except the day you come. After this joke 
you are recompensed for your disappointment by a 
gift of a handful of Cape rubies. 

The few quarts of diamonds that we see represent 
the labor of an army of about 18,000 natives and 
3,000 white men. Let us go next to a compound — the 
very interesting enclosure where the natives are 
housed. The name suggests a herding together of 
humanity, but here the Kafir learns more of the com- 
forts of life than he ever knew before. All along the 
railway line hungry natives beg for food — the only 
reason they do not seek a home in the compounds 
where there is the certainty of w r ork and good pay is 
because of their natural aversion to anything in the 
line of exertion. The laborer w T ho enters the com- 



72 



SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 



pound is expected to stay at least three months, at 
the end of which time if he wishes to depart he is 
thoroughly searched. 

The great quadrangle of the compound is bordered 
by the low houses of the natives, their only openings 
being on this square. You might not care to live in 
their humble rooms, but the most fastidious could not 
object to the very modern hospital with its dispensary. 
The large swimming tank gives many of them their 




BATHING POOL 



first lesson in cleanliness. There seems to be time for 
sports between the hours of work — a Kafir band assem- 
bled in one corner makes a weird noise which to some 



KIMBERLEY 73 

ears may be music. We see a barber shaving a woolly 
head, according to the fantastic devices that the natives 
admire. In another corner a reclining group of Zulus, 
as shining and as perfect as though carved from black 
marble, are all absorbed in what appears to be a game 
of marbles. A little later camp fires are lit and the 
evening meal prepared under the open sky as if they 
were in their wilds. Visitors are such an everyday oc- 
currence that the native does not look up from his oc- 
cupation unless he has for sale some trifle made dur- 
ing his spare moments. The workmen rarely escape 
or try to escape, so secure are the fences of the en- 
circling compound. 

Why all this army of labor — all this accumulation 
of machinery? Merely that in some far away country 
the sunshine may flash forth from the jewel on my 
lady's finger. 

The life at Kimberley is not all work, for where 
there is great wealth there are always many oppor- 
tunities for pleasure. The fine driveways lead to the 
model workmen's village of Kenilworth, to the beauti- 
ful resort Alexandersf ontein, and to the classic monu- 
ment built after the model of a Greek tomb, which 
commemorates the heroism of those who fell at the 
siege of Kimberley during the recent war. 

The famous siege of Paris numbered only a few 
more days than the one of Kimberley, where for one 
hundred and twenty-four days the English held out 
against the besieging Boer army. Had it not been 



74 



SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 



for the diamond mines, Kimberley, with her defend- 
ing force of 4,500 men, could not have withstood so 
long the opposing army of more than 10,000 Boers. 
The unique defenses of the city were the tailing heaps 
at the mines, great piles of debris, which rise up like 
small hills and quite encircle the town and its sub- 
urbs. Besides these, earthworks were constructed and 
guns mounted upon them; one of these weapons, 




SIEGE MEMORIAL AND LONG CECIL 



"Long Cecil," made such a name for itself that it will 
long live in the memory of both Boer and Briton. 

The story of "Long Cecil" is worth remembering, 
so we will tell it to you. The defenders of Kimberley 
were not very well prepared for a siege, and it became 
necessary for them to manufacture a large gun. Mr, 
George Labram, a citizen of the United States, at 



KIMBERLEY 75 

that time Chief Engineer of the De Beers mining 
company, designed this great gun and superintended 
its construction at the mines. The whole thing was 
completed in twenty- four days, some of the time hav- 
ing first been used in making necessary tools w T hich 
the town could not supply. When finished and 
mounted, "Long Cecil" was capable of throwing a 
shell of twenty-eight pounds a distance of five miles. 
When this gun first opened fire it caused a great stam- 
pede among the Boers, for they little suspected the 
existence of a gun of such long range. Some of the 
besiegers had brought their wives and children and 
had them comfortably encamped near their army, 
but the appearance of the new Kimberley gun sud- 
denly put an end to this happy family picnic. 

When the siege first began the people of the town 
continued in their daily duties as if nothing out of the 
ordinary were taking place; business was carried on 
and the mines were operated, for the shot and shells 
from the Boer guns did very little damage inside the 
fortifications. Finally from one cause or another, it 
became necessary to close the mines, and then arose 
the question about the thousands of unemployed. Mr. 
Cecil Rhodes, who was living in Kimberley at the 
time and who was the amalgamator of all the diamond 
mining companies of South Africa, came to the res- 
cue and provided work for the twenty thousand idle 
workmen, in the construction of the wonderful "Siege 
Avenue," a broad street several miles long. 



76 SOUTH AFEICA TODAY 

Towards the end of the siege provisions were be- 
coming scarcer every day and no place seemed safe 
from the shells sent in bv the Boers, who had received 
reinforcements and fresh ammunition. One after- 
noon Mr. Labram, of "Long Cecil" fame, was killed 
by the bursting of a shell fired into his room. Other 
similar fatalities induced Mr. Rhodes to offer the 
women and children shelter in the mines. Accord- 
ingly 3,000 women and children were lowered into 
the mines, where they w r ere carefully attended for 
five days, when the siege was raised. Relief came 
none too soon ; horse flesh had been the only meat for 
more than a month, and the population of 45,000, 
white and colored, were in a state of semi-starvation. 
Many people died, especially babies and small chil- 
dren, the total number being about 1,700. There 
had at no time been any thought of surrender on 
the part of the besieged, but a glad welcome was 
given to General French's cavalry when it arrived 
on the scene of action and ended the siege, February 
15, 1900. 



FROM KIMBERLEY TO VICTORIA FALLS 

Did you ever plan to sail through the Xorthwest 
Passage; or to visit the sacred city of Thibet, or to 
row on the Zambesi? Such names look very well in 
a geography, but until recently they seemed places 
to read about — not to visit. 

It is fifty years since the great explorer, Living- 
stone, first saw the falls to which he gave the name of 
his queen — Victoria. The account of his journey 
through the jungles of Africa seems as wonderful, 
and as impossible for us, as a voyage of Sinbad the 
Sailor. • That was the road for a hero — the Zambesi 
Express is better for us. Three days from the time 
we leave Kimberley the guard promises us we shall 
hear the roar of falling waters, though we must travel 
five hours more before we actually see the "water that 
smokes" — the native name for Victoria Falls. 

Although the guide book says that between Kim- 
berley and Victoria Falls, a distance of about a thous- 
and miles, there is very little to see, the little we do see 
is of great interest. The farther we go from civiliza- 
tion the better acquainted do we become with the na- 
tive and his way of living. We do not regret that our 
train hurries us past the scene of war — Mafeking, 
and it would not hold our attention were it not for 
the remembrance of its famous seven months' siege by 
the Boers. A little beyond Mafeking we enter Be- 

77 



78 



SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 



chuanaland (Betch-u-an-a-land) Protectorate. A 
protectorate is a province ruled over by native chiefs 




NATIVE HUT 



under the supervision and protection of the British. 
The southern part of Bechuanaland lies in the Kala- 
hari desert and our way lies along the eastern border 



FROM KIMBERLEY TO VICTORIA FALLS 79 

of this desert. Names like Tigerkloof and Crocodile 
Pools tell us what we might have seen had w r e come 
before the railroad. 

Bechuanaland is divided among several great Kafir 
chiefs, the most important being Bath wen (Bat- 
wing) , Sebele and Khama. The first part of our jour- 
ney lies through Bathwen's territory. Bathwen has 
seven tribes subject to him. He has accepted Chris- 
tianity and was properly married to his wife, who is a 
woman of strong character. He lives in a good Euro- 
pean house, suitably furnished. In one room are 
seven or eight clocks, gifts of Europeans. Bathwen 
once visited Cape Town and on his return he gave a 
lecture to his young people. He told the native chil- 
dren of the wonders of the big town of the white 
people, the sea and the great ships. To his mission- 
aries he said: 

"Formerly, when you, the missionaries, used to ex- 
plain the white man's wonders to us, we did not un- 
derstand what you told us very well. Xow that we 
have seen these marvels with our own eyes, during 
our visit last moon to the Cape, we can understand a 
good deal of what you used to tell us. We thought 
that we failed to comprehend because you did not 
know our language well enough. But now we, mas- 
ters of the language, find that we can not make our 
fellows and friends who have not seen them under- 
stand these wonderful sights, although we explain 
them as clearly as possible. So we know that it was 



80 



SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 



not your fault that we did not understand your ex- 
planations long ago. These things must be seen to 
be understood." 

The membership of the native Christian Church 
under Bathwen is a thousand, with a large number of 




'^iUBsL^ 



Wfjam 



A 



mm 




TYPICAL NATIVE HUTS 



native preachers whose labors are earnest and suc- 
cessful. Such heathen customs as polygamy, paying 
for wives with cattle, rain-making, and witchcraft, 
have all been swept away by Christian influence. 

The province adjoining Bathwen's is ruled over by 
a chief who is anything but a Christian — Sebele re- 



FROM KIMBERLEY TO VICTORIA FALLS 



81 




A KAFIR TOWN 



mains a heathen in spite of his regular attendance at 

church. One of his failings is his fondness for beer. 

The beer made bv these natives is of two kinds — 

a/ 

the corn beer, which is somewhat thick, and the beer 
made of honey, a more intoxicating drink. The beer 
is usually served in a large earthenware pot or cala- 
bash, the drinkers sitting around it, each one helping 
himself with a small ladle made also of calabash. A 
calabash is a large gourd often used as a food utensil 
by both whites and natives. Those who have formed 
the habit of intemperance are not satisfied with na- 
tive beer, and they barter away their oxen, sheep, 



82 SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 

goats, horses, wagons, in fact all that they have, in 
order to get the white man's brandy, which Europeans 
sell to them, in spite of prohibitive law r s. 

The native African knows many fairy tales which 
he loves to relate. He enjoys nothing better than to 
have a number of hearers sitting around a fire on a 
pitch-dark night, to whom he will tell tales of folk- 
lore far into the night. Since Sebele is noted as a 
story-teller, w r e will join his audience for an evening's 
entertainment. An interpreter is necessary, for the 
chief does not speak English. After we have listened 
attentively to dozens of tales, w^e are struck with their 
great resemblance to our B'rer Rabbit stories, which 
are indeed an echo from the wilds of Central Africa. 
Here is one as it was told to us. 

THE HARE AND THE LION 

Once upon a time a hare was compelled to live with 
a lion for some time. The lion made the poor little 
hare supply him with food, not an easy task. The 
lion would not leave the hare, for he thought her very 
wise and clever. Every day the lion said to his little 
companion: "Set food before me, for I am hungry, 
or else I shall eat you up!" The hare answered as 
meekly as possible: "All right; I will soon get you 
plenty of food. Come with me!" So away the pair 
went. The hare told the lion to keep out of sight 
while she went on ahead. Then she assembled all the 
wild creatures, saying she wished to make them a 



FROM KIMBERLEY TO VICTORIA FALLS 83 

speech. She called them together in a large enclos- 
ure formed of thorn-bushes. While they were won- 

a/ 

dering what the hare was going to say, the lion sprang 
into their midst and had a great feast on antelopes 
and other game, as the hare had planned he should do. 
Day after day the hare carried out this same plan, but 
in the end became tired of her work, for the lion was 
a most ungrateful beast. Then the hare decided to 
make an end of the lion, but it took all her w T isdom to 
find a way, for her companion was always at her side. 
How r ever, one day the hare invited the lion to see her 
little house which she had built. When they got there 
the hare sprang upon the roof. The lion wished to do 
the same but he could not, so the great strong fellow 
had to ask his little weak companion to help him up. 
' 'All right," said the w T ise little animal; "put up your 
tail, that I may get hold of it to assist you." The lion 
gladly did as he was told, for he had great faith in 
whatever the hare said or did. But this time the hare 
did not help the lion — instead of pulling him up she 
tied his tail fast to the roof of the house, then ran 
away, leaving the lion hanging there till he died. So 
the hare was never more troubled by the lion. 

The chief reason for Sebele's not accepting Chris- 
tianity is because it would necessitate his giving up 
many of his favorite pastimes. Both his neighbors, 
Bathw r en and Khama, are Christians and in their coun- 
tries most of the heathen customs have been abolished. 



84 SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 

We will speak of some of the customs still existing 
in Sebele's country. 

The Boyale is a regiment of girls who must work 
together for their chief at his command. About five 
hundred girls, from fourteen to seventeen years of 
age, enter the Boyale and are divided into bands of 
twenty to fifty each, under the charge of a head 
woman, carrying a terrible rod, whose thorny branches 
are curled round at the end, making it a dreadful in- 
strument of torture. The girls wear on their heads 
fox-skin caps; around their bodies are rings of reed 
beads, — that is, reeds a few inches long, threaded like 
an immense necklace. A large number of these are 
loaded upon their bodies until the poor girls can 
scarcely get their arms over them to do anything. Be- 
sides these, a reed skirt is worn, the reeds hanging 
down to their knees. Then the girls make themselves 
more hideous by covering their faces with ocher. The 
girls are taught heathen chants and dances. If they 
do not sing and dance properly the women in charge 
strike their bare shoulders, often causing them to 
bleed. After having thus been instructed all day, the 
girls must carry firewood, and then sing and dance all 
night. Those who can afford it pay others to dance 
for them. This instruction lasts a fortnight or so, 
at the end of which time each girl has an incision 
made in her side, serving as a Boyale certificate. 
While the girls are taking this training, boys of the 
same age are undergoing an equally odious training, 



FROM KIMBERLEY TO VICTORIA FALLS 



85 



and after a fortnight or so they all join forces for one 
night, making together one hideous carnival of hea- 
thenism with their wild dances and chants. 

When a native wishes to marry, he must buy his 
wife, giving to her father in payment a certain num- 
ber of oxen, say five, seven, nine, or, if a chief, even 
fifty-one. Bogadi is the name for this sort of money. 
An odd number of oxen is always given, for even 
numbers are consid- 
ered unlucky. In 
case the wife is not 
a good one, the hus- 
band may claim the 
return of the cattle. 
On the other hand, if 
the husband is un- 
kind to his wife, she 
may feel free to re- 




GROUP OF NATIVES 



turn to her home be- 
cause of the Bogadi in her father's possession. 

Love-charms are used among these people even to- 
day. If a girl's parents wish her to marry a certain 
young man, the father goes to the witchdoctor for a 
potion for this purpose. Having obtained it, he gives 
it to his daughter, who in turn gives it to her lover 
upon the first opportunity. When the young man 
has drunk the draught, the whole town knows it, and 
the wedding is talked of at once. 

The witchdoctor is a most important character in 



86 SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 

savage tribes. There are witchdoctors for various of- 
fices, such as healing the sick, making rain, finding 
lost articles and so on. It is useless to try to convince 
the natives that these diviners are imposters. In cases 
of illness the doctor often says that the pain is caused 
by a lizard, frog, beetle or other creature, and by a 
sleight-of-hand trick he produces the creature which 
has caused the trouble. If the patient does not rap- 
idly recover, he is considered by his friends to be 
showing great ingratitude to his doctor. Oftentimes 
English and Dutch farmers consult witchdoctors 
when they have lost any of their cattle, and usually 
the animal is found, for the Kafir has a w r ell devel- 
oped sense of sight, and once having seen an animal 
he can recognize it again long afterwards. The doc- 
tors often divine by means of the "Praying Mantis," 
as our children call the little insect which the Afri- 
cander children call the "Hottentot god." All who 
have ever watched a mantis have noticed how T he stops 
and seems to point with his head, some imagining the 
attitude to be that of prayer, whence its American 
name. The witchdoctor makes good use of this in- 
sect when he wishes to find out in which direction the 
stolen or strayed ox has gone. 

When a person is eaten up by some wild animal, the 
witchdoctor is called in to "smell out" the sorcerer. 
Death by such means is believed to be caused by sor- 
cery — the natives believe that a sorcerer can change 
himself at will into a crocodile, lion, or other animal. 



FROM KIMBERLEY TO VICTORIA FALLS 87 

and after devouring a victim can return to his orig- 
inal form. The "smelling out" process begins with 
a wild dance performed by the diviner, at intervals 
during which he smells of various members in his 
audience. When the guilty one is found, the doctor 
springs over his head and pronounces him guilty, 
whereupon all the others immediately flee from the 
culprit as if he were the evil one. However, before 
the punishment is settled upon, the guilty one has a 
trial by ordeal, in which he may or may not be found 
guilty. There are many kinds of such trials, but we 
will speak of only one, the ordeal by boiling water. 
This ordeal is similar to that used in Europe not very 
long ago. A large beer-pot, made of native pottery, 
is filled with water and set over a fire. Some charms 
and herbs are put in, and when the water boils furi- 
ously the diviner drops in a pebble. The suspected 
one is then made to pick out the pebble with his hand. 
If he should do this without scalding his hand, he is 
innocent. It is needless to say, he never escapes. 

The cow is all important to the Kafir, for with it 
he can buy anything from a wife to a bag of corn in 
time of drought. The wealth of a tribe is reckoned 
in cattle — they have been the means of exchange 
among the South African natives for centuries. The 
cow has come to be regarded as almost sacred. As 
soon as a child is born, a necklace with a few hairs 
from a cow's tail woven into it is put around its neck 
as a good luck charm. 



88 



SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 



The women, who are regarded as inferior to the 
men, have few privileges. One of their many prohi- 
bitions is that they may not enter the cattle kraal, nor 
are they allowed to touch the milk sacs or gourds. 
Life is more endurable for the women in Khama's 
country, in fact in all countries touched by the influ- 
ence of Christianity. 

Originally the tribe ruled over by Khama had its 
capital at Shoshong. But in 1889 Khama decided to 
abandon the old site, and move northward one hun- 
dred miles to a spot which he called Palapye (Pa-lop - 
she). The chief reason for moving was the scarcity 
of water; then, too, Khama realized that the sanitary 

conditions of the old 
town could be im- 
proved upon in a 
new town. Accord- 
ingly Palapye was 
carefully laid out, 
ample space being 
given to each family. 
In less than three 




GROUP OF PICCANINNIES 



months 20,000 na- 
tives and one family 
of missionaries had moved all their worldly posses- 
sions and were living in their new homes. 

In less than ten years' time the railway was pushed 
up through Bechuanaland, too near the new capital to 
suit Khama. The rapid march of civilization is not 



FROM KIMBERLEY TO VICTORIA FALLS 89 

always beneficial to the natives, Khama realized this, 
for he knew that strong drinks w r ould be imported, 
and this evil he hoped to avoid. Consequently he felt 
obliged to move his capital once again, this time to 
Mahalapye (Mak-a-lop-she) . 

Khama is perhaps the most beloved of all the chiefs, 
and he certainly has the best ruled country. His peo- 
ple are sober, well-disposed and contented. The men, 
although trained as warriors, in case fighting should 
ever be necessary, do not consider themselves mere 
fighting men and let the women do all the work, as is 
the savage custom. 

In 1895 the three great Bechuana chiefs visited 
Great Britain. They went over the sea to present a 
petition to Parliament. Since the requests were fairly 
reasonable they were nearly all granted. Their one 
supreme wish while in England was to see the "great 
white queen," as the natives called Queen Victoria. 
In expressing their fears lest they should not be al- 
lowed to see Her Majesty, they said: "Many of our 
ignorant people tell us that they do not believe that 
such a person as the great Queen exists. If we, their 
own Chiefs, return home saying we have not seen Her 
Majesty, what will they say? They will say that they 
spoke the truth when they said that there was no 
Queen in England. So we fear to return to our own 
land unless we can first see the Queen." 

While in Great Britain the three Chiefs traveled 
about and saw all the wonderful sights of the coun- 



90 SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 

try. Their one great wish was realized — they saw 
Queen Victoria and had an audience with her. At 
this meeting the Queen spoke these kind and gener- 
ous words to the Chiefs : "I am glad to see the Chiefs 
and to know that they love my rule. I confirm the 
settlement of their case which my Minister has made. 
I approve of the provisions excluding intoxicating 
liquors from their country, for I have strong feelings 
on the subject. The Chiefs must help my Minister 
and my High Commissioner in securing this object. 
I thank them for the presents which they have made 
to me, and I wish for their happiness, and that of 
their people." 

The presents referred to were beautiful karosses, 
that is, sleeveless jackets (worn by South African 
natives), made of beautiful skins of leopards and 
silver jackals. As parting gifts, Queen Victoria 
gave each Chief a beautifully bound New Testament 
in his native Sechwana language, her own portrait, 
and an Indian shawl, the last being for their wives. 

In Bechuanaland the chief is no longer an absolute 
prince ; he must submit to the restraints imposed upon 
him by the government, or by the dictates of a con- 
science awakened by the teachings of Christianity. 

When we cross the border line into Rhodesia we 
find the scattered remnants of a tribe too fierce to 
recognize restraint. The Matabele, ruled over by the 
cruel Lobengula, refused to keep faith with the 
whites, and were guilty of every kind of barbarity 






FROM KIMBERLEY TO VICTORIA FALLS 91 

toward the allies of the British, the Mashonas. The 
whites were forced to realize that no life was safe in 
the territory of the Matabele, and the war was waged 
which terminated in 1894 in the death of Lobengula, 
the submission of his tribe, and the annexation of 
750,000 square miles to British territory — an area sur- 
passing that of France, Germany, Austria and Italy. 
At this time Rhodesia took a new name and a new 
lease of life. Rhodesia is ruled by a chartered com- 
pany who have an undertaking similar to that of the 
old East India Company, with all its responsibilities 
but without its great profits. 

Bulawayo, formerly the point from which the Mat- 
abele started on their raids, is now the capital of 
Rhodesia. It is one of the newest of South Africa's 
many' new towns. The fine streets and driveways, 
the handsome office buildings, together with the small 
and scattered population, remind one of a "boom" 
town in the western states. One who believes in the 
country will probably tell you that it is built with 
room to grow, and that its founder planned for the 
great future which its gold mines insure. 

Rickshaws met us at the station, less picturesque 
than we find them elsewhere. The boys do not seem 
to take as much pride in their costumes and do not 
wear the gay tunic and the head-dress of horns which 
we will see later in Johannesburg. A blinding dust 
storm greets us and the only shade is from the lonely 
blue gums which throw uncertain shadows as they 



92 SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 

shudder before the hot breath of the winds. We pass 
through the Malay and Kafir districts to the center 
of the town, where the handsome hotels and govern- 
ment buildings would do credit to a town of ten times 
the population of Bulawayo, which claims only 7,000 
people. Where the four great crossroads meet is a statue 
of Rhodes — the maker of Rhodesia in so far as one 
man can develop a country and establish faith in it. 

A drive of a few miles brings us to the old indaba 
tree under which Lobengula formerly dispensed his 
so-called justice. Xear the tree is the picturesque 
Government House. Everywhere we see the old giv- 
ing place to the new. In the street we pass the trap 
of the smart English tourist, then walking with 
swinging gait the half -clad native. When we go far- 
ther to the north or when we get into territory where 
the Dutch have ruled, the native does not seem to ques- 
tion taking a subordinate place and does not expect 
to walk on the sidewalk. 

We find we must linger two days at Bulawayo in 
order to see two famous monuments — one modern, 
the other dating from Old Testament times. 

A short train journey takes us to the Matopo hills. 
A marble slab on a solitary grave reads, "Here lies 
the body of John Cecil Rhodes." This was where he 
wished to be buried — and the pilgrim to his grave sees 
from the hills what he called 'The World's View." 
It is a view that reminds one of his life in its loneliness 
and might, and its simplicity and greatness. 



FROM KIMBERLEY TO VICTORIA FALLS 



93 



Not far from the grave is the Shangani monument 
erected to the memory of Major Wilson and his 
party. An American scout, Mr. Burnham, survived 
to tell the story 
which Rider 
Haggard has 
thrillingly re- 
told. The scout 
left the little 
party to get re- 
inforcements, 
which arrived 
too late. Every 
school boy in 
Africa learns in 
his reader about 
"Major Wil- 
son's last 
stand." The 
Matabele sur- 
rounded the 
small band of 

t W e n t y — t O unveiling of Rhodes' statue — 1905 

take flight 

would mean to leave their wounded comrades. They 
held out as long as the ammunition lasted and died 
in a hand to hand conflict in an unequal fight against 
thousands. On the four great bronze tablets that com- 
memorate the deed, the likenesses of the heroes have 




94 



SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 



been strikingly portrayed. These monuments have 
been made as strong and enduring as man can devise, 
but our next day at the Khami ruins reminds us that 
nothing is proof against time. 

A drive of twelve miles from Bulawayo takes us to 
Khami. Eleven great ruins and many smaller ones 
give evidence of a buried city. Farther into the heart 




GUARD OF HONOR AT RHODES GRAVE 



of Rhodesia are the Zimbabwe ruins — larger and 
more imposing than Khami but very similar in design, 
and made intricate with herring bone and lattice 
stories. Both ruins are supposed to belong to the 



FROM KIMBERLEY TO VICTORIA FALLS 95 

same period — a period long before Stonehenge or the 
Coliseum. It is supposed that the Phenioians built 
their temples and smelted their gold here, and that 
the mines of Rhodesia were a source of wealth to the 
Queen of Sheba. Very little excavating has been 
done about the ruins, but gold ornaments and glass 
trinkets have been found. The surrounding country 
shows the presence of gold bearing reefs, and the 
wealth from these mines is thought to be the gold of 
Ophir, which the ships of Solomon and Hiram, King 
of Tyre, and others brought to Jerusalem about 1000 
B. C. 

The Baobab tree testifies to the age of the Rho- 
desian ruins. This tree, called by the natives the sour 
gourd or Cream of Tartar tree, is like an immense 
champagne bottle. The trunk is from twenty to 
thirty feet in diameter and it is often known to attain 
the age of a thousand years. The fruit is a brown 
gourd, suspended from a long cord-like stem some- 
times two feet in length. Inside is a white powder, 
with the taste and properties of cream of tartar. 
The Baobab trees flourishing among the Rhodesian 
ruins mean that a city has been deserted, the fine 
ground has sifted in deep enough to make a soil and 
after that the Baobab has grown unmolested for a 
thousand years. At the Bulawayo museum we are 
interested in a collection of relics from this old, old 
civilization. 

The towns are fewer and fewer as we go north, but 



96 



SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 




BAOBAB TREE 



each little station has its own features of interest if 
we are willing to be interested. During a stop for 
dinner a friendfy tame ostrich parades the station, 

thrusting his head in 
at the open windows 
and eating the food 
we offer him. Up 
and dow r n he saunt- 
ers, as though he, too, 
were a tourist. 

At every stopping 
place the natives 
swarm around the 
car, eagerly offering 
for sale little wooden animals, crude in their carving 
but sometimes very lifelike. The bottles of milk they 
recommend are no temptation, for we fear the wares 
may be no cleaner than the seller. When we lean 
out of the window we are greeted by a swarm of beg- 
gars, hungry and half-clothed, but so numerous that 
it seems hopeless to try to feed them. Sometimes a 
mother with a baby on her back, or a roguish begging 
little boy gets the last biscuit from our tea box. 

At Wankie there is a new T town that has grown up 
around the recently discovered coal mines. Back from 
the village of the white men we see the kraals of the 
natives, though usually the larger settlements are far 
from the stations. 

The journey of a day and a night from Bulawayo 



FROM KIMBERLEY TO VICTORIA FALLS 97 

brings us to what was in 1905 the terminus of the 
Cape to Cairo railroad — the bridge across the narrow 
chasm of the Zambesi. It was Cecil Rhodes who pro- 
jected the railroad which is to connect the Mediter- 
ranean with the Cape. Of the 5,700 miles, 1,631 have 
been finished from the southern end and 1,400 follow 
the Nile to Khartum, so more than half the distance 
has been bridged. 

We know that we are nearing the Falls, and every- 
one is at the windows or on the car platforms to listen 
for the sound of falling waters which we are told can 
be heard in the stillness at a distance of twenty miles. 
Finally the guard calls, "Victoria Falls Station," and 
we rejoice that we have arrived in time to have our 
first glimpse of the river before dusk. 

A short walk brings us to the rambling hotel which 
is soon to give place to a more pretentious one. On 
the broad veranda tea is served. The Falls are not in 
view from the hotel, but we see a great promontory 
with the river twisting like a serpent around its base 
and high across the canyon the suspended bridge is 
like a fairy arch. 

The two most wonderful feats of engineering in 
the world were completed on the same day in April, 
1905, — the Simplon tunnel, and the highest bridge in 
the world, spanning the Zambesi. It took the great- 
est skill in engineering to fling this steel network 
across the deep gorge of the river. At first a cord was 
shot across by means of a rocket — this drew a thicker 



98 SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 

cord, then a rope, then a steel cable. On this was sus- 
pended a swinging cage we sometimes call the "Fly- 
ing Dutchman," which bore across the workmen and 
their tools, and before the bridge was finished a thou- 
sand tons of steel. A great derrick swinging far 
across the river helped with the work. An electric 
plant was erected near the Falls to help in the con- 
struction. The bridge is 420 feet high and 650 feet 
long. The building continued from either side until 
the last bolt was riveted in April; the bridge was not 
formally opened for traffic until September 12, 1905, 
when the British Association for the Advancement of 
Science visited Victoria Falls during their tour of 
South Africa. President Darwin announced that the 
bridge was opened for the commerce of the world and 
the car passed over bearing the Union Jack. 

After tea on the hotel veranda we wander down to 
the bridge to get the first view of the falling water. 
The bridge is no longer a cobweb arch at nearer view, 
but a network of strong steel bars. The bridge does 
not afford the best view of the Falls, but two great 
cascades can be seen — feathery clouds of spray 
against a gray wall of stone, half covered with soft 
green velvety moss. 

The Zambesi above the Falls is two miles wide, and 
the precipice over which it falls over a mile in width, 
yet the narrow stream that flows beneath the bridge is 
only a few hundred feet in width. We look down 
upon its surface, quiet and peaceful, and it seems like 



FROM KIMBERLEY TO VICTORIA FALLS 99 

a little meadow brook, yet man has not been able to 
fathom its depth. Geologists have said that the water 
must find an exit through an underground passage, 
but it is not impossible that the very deep narrow 
channel has confined the waters of this great river. 
The old theory of earthquakes and the resulting fis- 
sures causing the formation at the Falls is no longer 
accepted. 

The Victoria Falls have had the same history as 
Niagara and are the result of erosion. Speaking in 
round numbers, Victoria Falls are twice the width and 
tw r ice the height of Niagara Falls, and four times the 
volume of water passes over them as over Niagara. 

We leave the bridge and follow the river bank, and 
come upon another great sheet of falling water. 
Every step presents a new view, and in our eagerness 
to see it all we find we are in the midst of a rain storm. 
Water is dripping everywhere in the palm grove into 
which we have made our way. This, then, is the "Rain 
Forest," where showers are never ceasing. We go 
back to the hotel to prepare ourselves to penetrate its 
watery depths. 

Fortune favors us, for we have timed our journey 
for the full moon, and we shall see the lunar rainbow. 
We venture into the Rain Forest from the other side 
and come upon a foaming mass of water, "The 
Devil's Cataract." Naming the greater falls from 
west to east, beyond the Devil's Cataract is the Main 
Fall, then the Rainbow Fall, and the Eastern Cat- 

LOFa 



100 



SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 



aract. The mile of falling water includes several 
distinct larger cataracts owing to the islands which 
break the Falls at the verge . We take the path 
through the Rain Forest with the soft shower. Every 
opening in the trees causes us to exclaim in wonder. 
Before us are the great sheets of the Main Falls — a 




VICTORIA FALLS — ZAMBESI — ONE MILE WIDE, FOUR HUNDRED FEET OF FALL 



gleaming mass of foam, white and billowy in the 
moonlight. We force our way through the jungle, 
cling to the monkey ropes, and see over the edge an 
arch of opal — the lunar rainbow. 

It would be a perilous feat to attempt to row down 



FROM KIMBERLEY TO VICTORIA FALLS 



101 



the Niagara River and try to look over the precipice 
at the falling water, but this is possible on the Zam- 
besi. Our second day at the Falls we cross the bridge, 
and the road brings us to a point on the river above 
the cataract where the boats of the natives are 
moored. The canoes glide noiselessly to the island, 
the black oarsmen standing like glistening statues 
in the prow. The large 
island on the edge of 
the Falls has been 
given the discoverer's 
name. Livingstone 
discovered the Falls 
from above. The na 
tive boatmen rowed 
him down the river to- 
ward the "water that 
smokes'*to an island on 
the very verge — a ven- 
ture that the swift current of Niagara makes impos- 
sible. In the center of Livingstone Island is a tree 
which the authorities have attempted to preserve, 
because on it the initials of the great explorer are 
still faintly discernible. 

At the very verge of the Island we lie on the jut- 
ting rocks and watch the river make its mad leap 
into the frenzied whirlpools below — a narrow gash, 
a hundred yards across and the length of the Falls, 
separates Livingstone Island from the Rain Forest. 




NATIVES ON THE ZAMBESI 



102 



SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 



Within this the waters eddy and foam — the spot 
where the struggle is fiercest has been named the 
Boiling Pot." We are in the midst of sun-illum- 
ined spray — below us the most glorious rainbows 
oscillate alone or in dancing pairs. 

Washed by tlie spray a new Gladiolus has been 
found which was appropriately named "Maid of the 
Mist." As an adaptation to its environment, its up- 
per petal forms a pent-house to protect the stamens 
and pistil from the ceaseLess downpour. To culti- 



W ii H M-i 


**^vwf ^5 











BAROTSE CANOE EOYS DRILLING 



vate it successfully in conservatories, constant spray- 
ing is necessary. 

We plan a quiet row on the Zambesi for our last 
day at the Falls. With our lunch we make an early 



FROM KIMBERLEY TO VICTORIA FALLS 103 

Gtart and drive to the landing place, where a little 
gasoline launch awaits us. All morning we make our 
way up stream on the broad still waters of the river. 
Tall cocoanut trees, interlaced "Monkey Ropes" (Li- 
anes) and palms of every description border the river. 
Occasionally we see through the trees the thatched 
roofs of Kafir huts, some high on poles like the nests 
of great birds. We watch for hippopotami or croco- 
diles in vain — traffic on the river has made the ani- 
mals wary. The river is dotted with islands, and our 
boatman points out two of the larger ones as Princess 
Christian and Princess Victoria, named for the first 
two members of the royal family who visited the 
river. 

At the village of Livingstone our boat makes a 
stop and we go ashore. Under the scattered trees 
on the sun-baked plain, the half -clad natives are 
dreaming away the hot morning, while a musically 
inclined companion plays a monotonous chant on an 
instrument made from a tortoise shell with stretched 
strings ; an old tin imbedded in the earth is the sound- 
ing board. Some boys bent on profit follow us with 
"lucky beans" and "mahogany" beans for sale. The 
lucky bean is a small red seed tipped with black — hard 
enough to be set in gold and serve for years as a 
jewel. The "mahogany" bean is larger — black en- 
livened by a scarlet arillus. 

Everywhere Livingstone has left a name and a 
memory. The Barotsi, who, with their chief, Le- 



104 



SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 



wanika, have for years held sway in this region, were 
prepared to welcome the next missionaries, for they 
argued since they were white they must be good like 
Livingstone; and, indeed, they found confirma- 




ZAMBESI PETS 



tion for their trust in the life and work of the noble 
French missionary, M. Colliard, who for so many 
years labored in their midst. 

Though a great explorer, Livingstone was above 
all a missionary. The tablet over his grave in the 
floor of Westminster Abbey quotes his life prayer 
that all men should unite to do away with the curse 



FROM KIMBERLEY TO VICTORIA FALLS 



105 



of slavery. His wife, who shared his toil, rests in a 
lonely grave not far from the Zambesi. 

At Livingstone is King Lewanika's store. He is a 
fairly enlightened chief who prides himself on his 
visit to England and his European clothes. Fine 
karosses and handsome baskets tempt us. The bas- 
kets are not unlike those of the North American In- 
dians and are water tight. They are used for por- 
ridge bowls and for drinking cups. An attempt by 
a buyer to reduce the quoted price met with the dig- 
nified response, ''This is the King's store." The na- 
tive does not appear anxious to make a sale, and he 
would not defraud his chief, though two hundred 
miles away at his capital in the interior. 

All about us are the hills of a Lilliputian village 
— the work of the white ant. Scientists have sug- 
gested that this insect 
takes the place of the 
earthworm in pulver- 
izing the soil. It is 
certain that it pulver- 
izes many things that 
it should not. In the 
morning your boots 
may be without soles, 
or your wooden trunk 

may be scattered about your room in the form 
of powder. A fallen log becomes in a few days a 
shell of bark. 




KING LEWANIKA S CURIO STORE 



106 



SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 



We find a glimpse of the larger animals of the 
river is not altogether to he desired. While we are 
picnicking on the bank we hear cries from the river 
and see in the distance an overturned canoe bein<? 
borne down the stream, and a native clinging to it for 




SCHOOL OF HIPPOS 



support and shouting for help. Our launch goes to 
the rescue, and we are not sorry that the hippo has 
chosen another boat than ours for a plaything. 

The red sunset behind the cocoanut palms as we 
drift down the stream is one of the most beautiful 
pictures of our African pilgrimage. 



VICTORIA FALLS TO THE TRANSVAAL 

The year 1835 saw the Great Trek (migration) of 
the Boers from Cape Colony. They pushed north- 
ward for several reasons, chiefly because of discon- 
tent under British rule. It w r as at this time that slav- 
ery was abolished in all British possessions; although 
a fairly good price w r as paid to the slave-owners, still 
many of the Dutch farmers resented the interference 
with what seemed to them their legal rights. The 
British bought the slaves for about $250,000, and 
thirty years later the United States settled the ques- 
tion of slavery under far harder conditions. About 
fifty Boer families under a leader packed their 
worldly possessions into great ox-wagons, and started 
out for unexplored regions. The late President Kru- 
ger was one of the children who went on this expedi- 
tion with his parents. These pioneers suffered un- 
told hardships and many were murdered bv the fierce 

X %J %j 

natives into whose country they went. Some finally 
reached the present site of Johannesburg, while others 
pushed on to the east, settling in what is now the 
province of Natal. Those early settlers near Johan- 
nesburg founded the beginning of the South African 
Republic, which later had its capital at Pretoria, 
named after its president, Mr. Pretorius. In the re- 
cent war, this Transvaal Republic lost its power and 
fell into the hands of the British, 

107 



108 



SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 



, 



Leaving now the beautiful Victoria Falls behind 
us, we shall retrace our steps to Maf eking, about 800 
miles south of the Zambesi. From here we w r ill "trek" 
across country to Johannesburg, nearly 200 miles. 




TREK WAGON 



In "trekking" one travels mostly at night, so little is 
seen of the country if one cares to sleep. Our wagon 
is a typical trek-wagon, like that seen in the picture. 
We have fourteen oxen, a driver and a voor-louper 
(leader). Two kegs of water hang beneath the 
wagon, a sail top (tent) protects us from the sun, and 
a mattress on the bottom serves as a bed. Our food 



VICTORIA FALLS TO THE TRANSVAAL 109 

and cooking utensils are stored away in boxes. We 
start off at sundown, and travel leisurely till mid- 
night, when we stop for an hour's rest. Then on we 
go till six in the morning. We outspan the oxen near 
a small stream, where there are a few trees offering us 
welcome shade, and breakfast preparations are begun. 
The Kafir boy builds the fire, and boils the water, and 
very soon we have a good breakfast. The whole day 
is spent at this place, for it is not comfortable to 
travel for hours along a sunny road. By sundown, 
oxen and travelers are both sufficientlv rested to con- 

mi 

tinue the trekking — thus we go on for four or five 
days. Our trekking recalls the five and seven miles 
long processions of refugees during the war. We 
sleep very comfortably at night, for the road is good, 
having been much used in the past twenty-five years. 
On our journe3^ from Maf eking we pass several small 
villages, otherwise there is little to see. 

JOHANNESBURG 

In the distance we see Johannesburg ; we marvel at 
this wondrous city which has sprung into existence as 
by magic, for in less than twenty years the popula- 
tion has increased to 84,000. What caused this rapid 
and sudden growth, in a town which began with only 
3,000 people in 1887? Gold was discovered on the 
site of the present city, and the news of it caused peo- 
ple to flock there from all corners of the world. As 
we walk along the streets, we are struck with a 



110 



SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 



strange fact, that is, the absence in general of women 
and elderly men. This is readily accounted for when 
we consider the difficulties in the way of traveling, for 
the railway reached Johannesburg only a few years 
ago. The young men of the world, fired with the 
gold fever, left their homes and rushed to the Trans- 



I '» Mil 1 J_ 


''JF 

/f . » ; ■ jar. 


Hbtftk^f" t^Wffl 


if 



ELOFF STREET, JOHANNESBURG 

vaal. Many made their fortunes and returned with 
them to their native homes. On the other hand, a 
large number of people have remained in the city, 
where they have built beautiful residences. 

Johannesburg is pre-eminently a city of wealth, 
which Ave realize more and more as we walk leisurely 



VICTORIA FALLS TO THE TRANSVAAL 



111 



along the streets. The shop windows are as attractive 
as those of Paris. We stop to admire the jewelers' 
displays of beautiful and expensive wares. Every- 
where are signs of great wealth, in the handsome 
shops, in the well-dressed people on the street — indeed 
it is said that more money is made and lost in one day 
in Johannesburg than in any other city in the world. 
There is much gambling on the Stock Exchange, to 
say nothing of the money won and lost in social 
games. Johannesburg boasts of several theatres and 
many club houses, and 
society life in that city 
is the most fashion- 
able in all South Af- 
rica. Ladies dressed 
in the latest Parisian 
gowns drive by in ele- 
gant carriages drawn 
by most beautiful 
horses, and motor cars 

without number race past with great speed. To 
us the rickshaws (short for "jinrickshas") are the 
oddest kind of conveyance. A light two-wheeled cart 
drawn by a colored boy, clad in unique attire, a 
pair of horns on his head making him look like a 
satyr. The small horse-car line looks out of place in 
this flourishing modern city, and we are glad to know 
that an electric tram system is already nearing com- 
pletion. The massive stone buildings eight and ten 




RICKSHAW BOYS 



112 SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 

stories high are strikingly American in architecture. 
This is not strange, for there is a large colony of 
Americans in the city; many of the highest positions 
in the mines, not only in Johannesburg, but 
throughout South Africa, are held by Americans, 
Four daily papers and several weeklies supply local 
and foreign news to the people. Wages are high, a 
baker can earn $25 a week, while plumbers and stone- 
masons receive $35. Everything is correspondingly 
expensive, the least fare on the tram being a sixpence 
(twelve cents) . House rents are higher in proportion 
than in New York, for modern conveniences are not 
found in every house. Fresh eggs (by the way many 
eggs are imported from Ireland) sell usually from 75 
cents to $1.00 a dozen. 

Johannesburg has an elevation of 5,655 feet, that 
is more than a mile above sea-level; this gives a very 
bracing atmosphere and a delightful climate. In one 
year recently the total fall of rain was thirty inches, 
all of which fell in 187 hours; the rain usually comes 
down in heavy thunder-showers which last but a short 
time. In the warmest weather the wealthiest people 
of this city take their families to the seashore, travel- 
ing from 300 to 400 miles to the nearest seaport. 

We spend several days driving about the many 
pretty suburbs, where the better class of people have 
built very nice residences. Trees have been planted 
along many streets, but as yet they afford little shade. 
An American friend offers to take us for a dav's out- 



VICTORIA FALLS TO THE TRANSVAAL 



113 



ing to Pretoria, the Transvaal capital, twenty-five 
miles away. 

PRETORIA 

The distance is soon covered, for we are spinning 
along in a fine motor-car, going as fast as we please. 
If there are any laws against scorching no one heeds 
them, and everybody drives a motor-car or rides a 




PREMIER DIAMOND MINE HAULAGE 



bicycle at high speed. Pretoria is a restful city of 
rose-embowered homes, for 35,000 people. The first 
railway train entered this city in 1895, although the 
place w r as then about fifty years old. The chief indus- 
try here is diamond mining, but having seen the work- 



114 



SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 



ings of such mines in Kimberley, we shall not take 
time to visit these. The diamond interest in the 
Transvaal stands next in importance to the gold, and 
the Premier Diamond Mine is one of the wonders of 





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IjjmI 




^fp «kSllv 


1 


' ; iP»§M*SHHp ' *' ? -v '^^ 


jm 


\l^ ; -fHF'' *^HS! 


JM 


■ 


* 


s 


■' 


1 


BWfl 


^^*^B 



NISSEN-PRETORIA 



THE CULLINAN DIAMOND— TWO-THIRDS SIZE 



modern discovery. The gold mines are centered at 
Johannesburg, while diamonds are mined in Pretoria. 
The site of the famous Premier Mine, twenty miles 
from Pretoria, was in 1902 an untilled field, but now 
after four years it is a thriving center of industry. 
The present manager of this mine obtained possession 
of the land in an interesting manner. A farm, lying 
near land which was believed to be diamondiferous, 
was offered for sale for the preposterous price of 
$280,000. Different people asked the farmer if they 



VICTORIA FALLS TO THE TRANSVAAL 115 

might inspect the land before buying to see what were 
the prospects of diamond soil being found there. But 
to all entreaties the farmer replied: "No; take it or 
leave it, and the price must be paid ih hard cash." 
Finally Mr. Cullinan determined to buy that farm on 
speculation; he interested a number of friends in the 
scheme and among them they raised $400,000, more 
than enough to buy the farm, Within three years 
after this investment the original $400,000 had been 
more than doubled and even trebled. The value of 
the average diamond is about $14.00 per carat. As 
at the Kimberley mines, the finder of a diamond in 
the rough receives a good reward. The world famous 
diamond called the " Cullinan" diamond was found 
by a workman, who dug the stone out of the rock 
with a penknife. He received as his reward $10,000, 
the value of the diamond being about $2,500,000. 



DURBAN 

During the first years in South Africa the new- 
comers try to keep up the Christmas traditions of the 
mother country by preparing the steamed plum pud- 
ding and eating it bravely in spite of the heat, for 
you will remember that in the southern hemisphere 
the seasons are reversed, and that their summer is in 
December and their winter in July. Although the 
candles have a way of melting before the day is done 
there is an attempt to decorate the Christmas tree. 
In time the people learn to accommodate their cele- 
bration to the weather and a picnic at the beach is not 
a bad substitute for the Yule log. The seaside re- 
sorts are crowded on the great holidays — Christmas, 
Boxing Day (the day after Christmas, when the ser- 
vants expect freedom and a present or Christmas 
box), New Year's, and the several bank holidays. 
The cheap excursions planned by the Government 
railways make it possible for the poorer people to 
have an occasional glimpse of the sea. If you are 
rich you go to the hotels or have your own summer 
house — but there is no reason for staying at home if 
you can not have these luxuries. The Africander 
knows how to have a happy out-of-door summer with 
a trek wagon and a tent. 

After Chistmas all the talk is about the vacation 
trip. Our friends in Johannesburg are going to take 

116 



DURBAN 



117 



the shortest route to the sea, and we make the twenty- 
four hours' trip with them to Durban. From our 
great elevation of six thousand feet we go zigzagging 
down to the coast — a switch-back railway makes the 
descent possible. 

The Province of Natal and its two chief cities of 
Durban and Pietermaritzburg seem very different 
from anything w r e have thus far seen. There is the 




JINRICKSHAWS 



luxuriant vegetation of the tropics, and the social 

atmosphere is more decidedly English than elsewhere. 

Durban is, in fact, one of the most English places 

in South Africa, and it is certainly one of the most 



118 



SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 



beautiful. Rickshaws meet us at the station and we 
find in Natal they take the place of cabs almost en- 
tirely. The fares are cheaper than in other places; 
for about five cents we have a delightful ride from 




H I 



WEST STREET, DURBAN 



the station to the hotel, skimming along over the 
broad, clean, well-paved streets. Competition is keen 
among the rickshaw boys, and they seem to enjoy 
earning their fees. But we learn the great exertion 
tells on their health in time, and they die early of con- 
sumption, although they are chiefly Zulus — the finest 
native race in Africa. They add a most picturesque 
element to the street life with their gay costumes — 



DURBAN 



119 



bright colored tunics, horns on their heads, and bells 
on their heels. 

When we enter the hotel dining room and see 
what seem to us fifty Moorish princes all in white 
linen, with snowy turbans, ready to wait upon us, we 



';.--'£' ^ ^^H '■ -' 


Jp^ f jHlk f^^j J0& ^m3j~&fB%& 








*Wr I 1 *? 1 
1 1 : 





ZULUS AT DINNER 



feel like the barber in the Arabian Nights, who was 
moved into the king's palace while he slept and awoke 
with a royal retinue ready to do his bidding. The 
many villages and the great Indian temple speak of 
the number of Malays, who find employment, also, 
in the mines producing coal and minerals. 

The residence portion of Durban is charming. 
From a distance it is like a great jungle. Villas and 
bungalows are set in the midst of gardens of rich 
foliage. The land rises from the sea in wooded ter- 
races and the people find refuge from the heat in this 



120 



SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 



natural "hanging garden of Babylon." The finest 
homes are on the high terraces fronting the sea called 
the Berea. Here there is a view of the land-locked 
harbor below, which was until lately the ' 'incurable 
disease" of the country. 




ENTRANCE TO DURBAN 



A sand bar formed across the entrance to the har- 
bor, over which flowed onty two feet of water at low 
tide. The genius of engineers and the wealth of the 
Colony have been expended upon this problem. By 
a system of dredging it is possible now for the great 
w r eekly mail ships to pass through the narrow en- 
trance between the long breakwater and the project- 



DURBAN 121 

ing land, into the quiet harbor of Port Natal. Here 
the mail boat terminates its voyage from England 
after a run of 7,000 miles. 

The resorts that surround the city are as pleasing 
as their musical Zulu names — Umkomas, Amanzim- 
toti, Umbogintwini. The native languages have for 
many letters a clicking sound, which, like the Dutch 
"g," is difficult to acquire unless one is taught in child- 
hood. One can never be sure of pronunciation where 
there is such a curious mixture of French, Dutch, 
Zulu and English names. Fietermaritzburg, the 
capital of Natal, was named from the two leaders 
of the Boers who treked there in 1837. D'Urban was 
an early English governor, and the name Natal was 
given to the country by Vasco da Gama, because he 
first saw the land on the dav of Christ's nativity, in 
the year 1497. 

The tram (street car) service in Durban under 
municipal ownership is unusually good. There are 
stations between which one can ride for the small fare 
of a penny. Instead of each shopkeeper having his 
own carriers, deliveries from the stores are made by 
tram. 

There are some seventy thousand people in Dur- 
ban, but like most of the commercial centers in South 
Africa the city seems much larger. Here as else- 
where there is time to enjoy life, and at eleven o'clock 
and at four o'clock all business seems suspended, 
and the tea-rooms are thronged. The docks 



122 SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 

are always a scene of activity, for this rich district 
raises many products for exportation. The chief 
wealth of Xatal is in sugar, tea, cereals, live stock and 
coal. 

A voyage of 800 miles around the coast past the 
Cape of Storms (which often does credit to the 
name) and we are in Cape Town once more. Here 
the steamer delays three days — four weeks more of 
ocean travel await us before we see the shores of 
America. 

The American has the reputation of being the 
"globe-trotter," but the Africander is a greater trav- 
eler. Families of moderate means plan to go "home," 
as they call England or Scotland, every five years, 
and one frequently meets students from some Euro- 
pean school who have come home to Africa to see 
their parents during the two months' summer vaca- 
tion — a distance as far as the journey from San 
Francisco to London. To us this cruise half-way 
round the world is a great achievement, to the trav- 
eled, cosmopolitan Africander it is an everyday af- 
fair. 



MISSIONS 

A visit to South Africa is incomplete without some 
acquaintance with missions and mission work. Far 
to the north in Xyassa Land are the stations of the 
Dutch Reformed Church. On the Zambesi the 
French are at work among the Barotsi. There are 
English, Scotch and American missionaries in nearly 
every native settlement. 

While our steamer delays several days in Table 
Bay we shall have time to visit the oldest mission sta- 
tion in Africa. At Gnadendal four generations have 
felt the benefit of Christian teaching, and one may see 
the result of missionary work among the African 
natives. 

In 1737 a Moravian, George Schmidt, wished to go 
to Africa to work with the blacks. He was crippled 
by the chains he had worn during his five years' im- 
prisonment, at a time when a severe religious perse- 
cution was directed against the Moravians in Ger- 
many. He reformed the life of the rough sailors on 
his ship by preaching and teaching among them on 
his outward voyage. At Cape Town he went to work 
at once among the slaves. It was a new idea that 
blacks could have souls, and the authorities of the 
Dutch East India Company, alarmed at the success 
of his labors, banished him from the city. 

He sought refuge near what is now the town of 

123 



124 SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 

Caledon, in a lonely valley called Bavian's Kloof (the 
vale of baboons). Here the Hottentots, the most 
hopeless and degraded of the natives, came to him. 
The fame of his work spread abroad, and the people 
at Stellenbosh, two hundred miles away, complained 
that the tinkling of his little church bell disturbed the 
quiet of their Sabbath morning, and they insisted on 
his recall. 

For fifty years an old colored woman treasured the 
bible he had given her. Some years after Schmidt 
had left Africa she was in Cape Town when a com- 
pany of Moravians came on shore. She recognized 
them by their manner of dress, showed them her bible 
wrapped in sheepskin, and they took her story home 
to Germany. A new band of Moravian missionaries 
was sent out, and the work in Bavian's Kloof, which 
now became Gnadendal (the vale of grace), was re- 
commenced. 

When we enter the village we drive past neat little 
homes made of sun-baked bricks. Trellised grape 
vines shade the doorways. The valley below is filled 
with prosperous farms. In the church on Sunday a 
thousand voices are lifted in praise — a native organ- 
ist plays with fine expression the large pipe organ. 
On one side of the church sit the women in their neat 
white kerchiefs and aprons — on the other side are the 
men. Facing each other in front are the benches filled 
with most attractive little boys and girls. The people 
look clean, self-respecting and intelligent. The mis- 



MISSIONS 125 

sionaries live on a very small salary, but their homes 
show great refinement, and they are extremely inter- 
esting men and women. There is a printing office, 
a training school for native teachers, and everything 
possible is done to ennoble the lives of the natives. 

At the home of a descendant of Count Zinzendorf 
we see the portrait of this great leader of the Mora- 
vians. The treasure for which book collectors have 
offered a small fortune is shown us at the home of 
another missionary. It is the first bible ever placed 
in the hands of a black — the one given by Schmidt to 
the old Hottentot woman and so carefully preserved 
by her for fifty years. At other stations in Africa, 
because the work is newer, it has many more discour- 
aging features ; here the hundred years of toil are be- 
ginning to produce results. 

In the old garden of George Schmidt is a pear tree 
which he planted. Every one thought it dead for a 
number of years, then fresh shoots came out, and to- 
day it is a flourishing tree, bearing fruit. The re- 
sults of great sacrifice and hard w r ork are often for 
the generations that are to come. So many heroic 
lives from the time of Schmidt and Livingstone down 
to the present have been sacrificed to Africa that the 
story of the pear tree should be symbolical of her 
future. 



HISTORICAL 

THE ANGLO-BOER WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA 

Previous to the year 1900 there were many types 
of government south of the Zambesi. There were 
two republics, the South African Republic and the 
Orange Free State, two British colonies, Natal and 
Cape Colony, besides a chartered company posses- 
sion, Rhodesia, the native protectorates, and a Ger- 
man province. 

Cape Colony, the most southern province in 
Africa, had become British territory in 1806, after 
having had an unprogressive career under the Dutch 
East India Company for about a hundred and fifty 
years. The dissatisfied element left the colony in 
the year 1836, the year of the Great Trek, leaving a 
population largely British, or at least in sympathy 
with British rule. Thus Cape Town became the nat- 
ural center for the landing and dispersing of Brit- 
ish troops during the war. When in the course of 
the fighting the Boers invaded the northern part of 
Cape Colony, it can not be said that they received en- 
thusiastic support; 

In 1842 the province of Natal, at least the Eng- 
lish section, having suffered continually from native 
incursions, was not loth to avail itself of the protec- 
tion of the British troops. The short-lived Dutch 
Republic established here by one contingent of the 

126 



THE ANGLO-BOER WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA 127 

Trekers in 1836, did not surrender without a strug- 
gle. Natalia, the name the Dutch Republic had 
borne for its short career, became the English prov- 
ince of Natal. A small band of those who refused 
to acknowledge British sway migrated northward 
again to join their Dutch friends in the Transvaal. 
That Natal needs the backing of a government 
strong enough to make the natives respect it is evi- 
dent from the recent uprising among the Zulus. A 
small tax called the "hut tax" was imposed upon the 
natives. They resented being asked to contribute to 
government support, united against the whites, and 
in April, 1906, it became necessary to call out the 
troops for the protection of the white population. 
Since the blacks outnumber the whites south of the 
Zambesi in the ratio of about twenty to one, it is 
well that they do not realize their numbers nor their 
power. 

This Kafir war was less serious in its results than 
many which preceded it. But it caused for a time 
strained relations between the Imperial Government 
and Natal. The circumstances were these: Some 
officers in the service of the government were killed 
by the rebellious Zulus; the guilty ones were caught 
and ordered to execution. The Parliament of Eng- 
land interfered and the colonial ministry of Natal 
showed its displeasure by resigning, whereupon the 
Imperial Government withdrew its protest, satisfied 
on becoming thoroughly acquainted with the facts 



128 SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 

of the case that the Natal authorities had acted 
justly. The execution of the natives which fol- 
lowed seemed to have a wholesome effect upon the 
chiefs still in rebellion. All of which proves that be- 
yond a certain point the central authorities may not 
interfere with the colonies, and that the people who 
have lived a long time in the country understand far 
better the native question than those who have built 
up theories from pure speculation without any prac- 
tical knowledge of native affairs. 

The Orange River Colony was also settled by a 
party who had helped to make up the numbers that 
formed the Great Trek. Continual native disturb- 
ances gave the British an excuse for taking posses- 
sion of that territory. In 1854 an expert on African 
affairs, Sir George Cathcart, suggested that the 
province be given up — it being in his opinion a land 
fit for springboks only. The Boers established here a 
thriving republic. When war became imminent be- 
tween the South African Republic and the British, 
the Orange Free State, as the Boers named their lit- 
tle republic, was urged to remain neutral, the British 
promising if it complied w T ith this request that its in- 
dependence should be secure. The Orange Free 
State, however, preferred to cast its lot with that of 
its sister republic. 

This sister, the South African Republic, was also 
a trek settlement. It had been proclaimed British 
territory in 1877, but the Boers had protested in word 



THE ANGLO-BOER AVAR IN SOUTH AFRICA 129 

and action. They took up arms, and after the battle 
of Majuba Hill the South African Republic was 
recognized, the ministry of Gladstone upholding the 
cause of the Boers in England. The South African 
Republic did not live to come of age. Born in 1881, 
it ceased to exist in 1900. Had it not been for the 
discovery of gold in the South African Republic its 
history might have been very different. In 1890 the 
whole aspect of affairs was changed by the finding of 
gold within the boundaries of this republic. From 
all over the world came fortune hunters. After the 
first excitement had died out, they found that there 
were political conditions which seemed unjust. All 
Uitlanders, as those who were not Dutch were called, 
were heavily taxed, had no schools, and were denied 
the franchise practically. From past experience the 
Boers had cause to be apprehensive lest the govern- 
ment should pass out of their control. A union was 
formed among those who had no vote to protest 
against political conditions and to try to better them. 
The action of Dr. Jameson at this time made peace- 
able settlement impossible. With 500 mounted men 
he crossed the border land from Rhodesia to take gov- 
ernment affairs out of the hands of the Dutch by 
force. President Kruger, who for many years had 
held this title in the South African Republic, was 
ready for him. Jameson and his company were 
obliged to surrender to Kruger and his burghers. 
Several of the ring leaders in Johannesburg, and 



130 SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 

Jameson himself suffered imprisonment and fine. 
The Republic now put itself in a position tc resist 
all further interference — ammunition was imported, 
every burgher had a rifle, and forts were erected. On 
October 9 ,1899, the Dutch sent this ultimatum to the 
British. 

The British troops stationed on the border land 
of the Republic were to be instantly withdrawn, 
and the reinforcements then coming by sea from 
England were not to be landed in Africa. If an an- 
swer was not given within forty-eight hours it would 
be considered equivalent to a declaration of war. The 
British government said it regretted that such a de- 
mand had been made but it had no further communi- 
cation to make, and the war began. 

The Boers were in readiness. Within three days 
50,000 men were in the field, mounted and armed. It 
soon became evident that the ambition of the Dutch 
extended to all the land south of the Zambesi. 
Rhodesia was to be held by capturing Mafeking, the 
strategic point. An invasion was planned into Natal, 
and Kimberley was besieged. The siege of Kimber- 
lev lasted one hundred and twenty- four days, and was 

relieved by General French. General Joubert of the 

» 

Dutch forces invaded Xatal, and for one hundred and 
sixteen days Sir George White was hemmed in at 
Ladysmith. General Buller came to his rescue, Feb- 
ruary 28, 1900, and the siege collapsed. Shortly 
afterward General Joubert, one of the bravest and 



THE ANGLO-BOER AVAR IN SOUTH AFRICA 131 

most respected of the Boer commanders, died. Maf e- 
king held out under Colonel Baden-Powell for two 
hundred and fifteen days, one of the longest sieges in 
history. After its relief the army of the Boer gen- 
eral, Cronje, surrendered at the Modder River. This 
was followed b}^ the entrance into Bloomfontein (the 
capital of the Orange Free State), of Lord Roberts, 
which event marks the loss of this republic to the 
Dutch. This state had had a short but interesting 
history of less than fifty years. 

It was seen that the British had greatly underesti- 
mated the strength of the Boers, and during the first 
months of the war nearly all the engagements had re- 
sulted in favor of the Dutch. To relieve the sieges 
of Mafeking, Kimberley and Ladysmith, contin- 
gents were poured in from New Zealand, Canada, and 
Australia. The most able and experienced of British 
generals, Lord Roberts and General Kitchener, took 
charge of the forces in South Africa. 

After the relief of the besieged cities the war was 
practically decided, but guerrilla warfare continued 
until May, 1902. General De Wet became com- 
mander-in-chief of the Boer forces and w r as unwilling 
to give up the struggle. At last it became evident 
even to him that it was a useless fight. The terms of 
peace that closed the war are interesting. 

The farms were to be restocked, this provision — 
the conqueror indemnifying the conquered — being 
unusual in the history of warfare, A further clause 



132 SOUTH AFRICA TODAY 

in the peace articles which somewhat reconciled the 
Boers to new conditions was that the Dutch language 
should be preserved by being taught in the schools. 
This last has not proved a source of harmony, and 
South Africa is perhaps the only country in the world 
where a knowledge of two languages, and one of 
them a dialect, is necessary if a man is to conduct 
successfully any business. That nothing tends to 
foster the spirit of racial division more than a dual 
language South Africa has proved. 

A feature of the war about which much has been 
written was the concentration camp. Here the women 
and children were collected from the devastated 
farms and some attempt was made to continue the 
schooling of the children. Teachers came from Can- 
ada and from all parts of the British empire to teach 
in these concentration schools. 

The Boer prisoners who were captured by the Brit- 
ish during the war were sent to the island of St. Hel- 
ena or Ceylon. The year of exile on these islands 
was a school of experience to the young Boers, who 
are not prone to travel far from home. It was dur- 
ing this period of captivity that many of the young 
men decided to give their lives to mission work among 
the natives, as some reparation for the wrongs the 
blacks had suffered at their hands. "We took the 
land from the natives," they said, "and now ours is 
taken from us that we may realize the evil thing we 
did in the past." 



THE ANGLO-BOER AVAR IN SOUTH AFRICA 133 

So strong is the prejudice among some of the 
Dutch in South Africa against British rule that 
rather than submit to the British government there 
was a new trek at the close of the war. A party mi- 
grated to German East Africa, another company 
sought homes in South America in the Argentine Re- 
public, and a third division went to the northwestern 
corner of the United States. 

It was said that in 1900 there were many types of 
government south of the Zambesi River, now it is all 
British territory save German West Africa. The 
Orange Free State has become the Orange River Col- 
ony, the South African Republic has become the 
Transvaal. In 1906 all disabilities were removed and 
these two new r colonies were granted self government. 

Even after long residence in South Africa it is 
hard for an American to decide the right and the 
wrong of this war. It resolves itself into the ques- 
tion as to whether freedom has any value if not 
conducive to the best in civilization and in progress. 




Prom stereograph copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y. 

EX-PRESIDEXT KRI'GER'S HOME AT PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA 




From stereograph copyright by Underwood & I uuerwoi d. N. Y. 
A CONSPICUOUS INHABITANT ON THE GREAT KAROO, CAPE COLONY 




From stereograph copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y. 



A WAR DANCE OF ZULU BRAVES AT A KRAAL NEAR THE UMI.ALOOSE RIVER, 

ZULUUAND, SOUTH AFRICA 



11 190? 



